Swift boxes installed to help conserve Swifts in Salisbury

Tuesday, 28 June 2022 01:00

Salisbury City Council has teamed up with Salisbury and Wilton Swifts (SAWS) to install Swift boxes at City Council-owned buildings.

Salisbury is home to several colonies of swifts with the largest around Sarum College in the Cathedral Close and Friary Lane. However, the vibrant birds are in dramatic decline.

Swifts nest primarily in buildings – under roofs or in walls. Due to building demolition, renovation and roof repair, there is no longer space for these birds to breed and between 1995 and 2021, UK breeding numbers decreased by 58%.

To help reverse the decline and improve the availability of nesting sites in Salisbury, a number of Swift boxes have been installed at the Bemerton Heath Centre, Hudson’s Field and Devizes Road Cemetery Lodge. The City Council are also looking into other buildings that can have boxes installed.

Environmental Services Manager, Marc Read said, “Thank you Salisbury and Wilton Swifts for working with us to help increase biodiversity in our City. We are lucky to have a number of Swifts visit Salisbury so it is important that we do all we can to reverse the decline. Please visit the Salisbury and Wilton Swifts website to find out what you can do to help."

Daniel Kronenberg, coordinator of Salisbury and Wilton Swifts, said, “Our group has really welcomed Salisbury City Council’s commitment to helping conserve swifts in Salisbury. This iconic species is still in serious decline and last December was placed on the Red List of Birds of Conservation Concern. We hope that our work with the council will go towards stabilising, or even reversing, the downward trend.”

For more information on Salisbury and Wilton Swifts, including how you can donate and become a volunteer, please click here.

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