If you’re lucky, you’ll have already spotted one of the Island’s most iconic birds overhead as spring unfurled into summer… the swifts have returned to nest.
UK populations of swifts have declined at an alarming rate, in part the result of the dwindling supply of accidental nooks and crannies in and around roofs. Modern houses are just too well-sealed and older properties become renovated – great for energy efficiency, but disastrous for wildlife. However, a new Island development has shown how it’s possible to reverse this trend.
Island ecologists at Arc have long been working to monitor swifts on the Island, so when asked to help design-in ‘wildlife encounter’ at Spectrum Housing’s new Freshwater Fields. Ian Boyd at Arc was keen to flag up the plight of these birds and, thanks to the enthusiasm of the team at Spectrum, Drew Smith and support from volunteers at the RSPB and Swift Conservation, 50 swift nestboxes were built into the brickwork of the new properties, creating a whole new and safe habitat.
The first signs of interest from birds returning from their long migration and now starting to nest will be quickly spotted by local residents who in turn will become a vital part of the project’s future. Spectrum Housing have sent out the first call to action this week, asking new residents to join the national Swift Survey and to keep Spectrum and Arc posted on what they spot too.
Ian Boyd explains:
“Another of the most exciting things to come out of this development has been the combination of built habitat and public realm. A small copse on the site, closed off and unused for several years, has provided a small but vital public greenspace, somewhere which will give new and existing residents a chance to enjoy local wildlife as well as a reason to participate in its conservation”.
With a conservation management plan put in place to ensure this space stays a pocket wilderness, volunteers from Spectrum’s Green Army project and Challenge & Adventure were the first to join Spectrum and Arc and contribute to the copse’s regeneration, learning hazel coppicing, tree and hedge-planting as well as creating reptile habitat. Hand-sculpted birdboxes by local artists and a carved bench will be installed this summer with a community wildflower planting to mark the event. Even the name of the site has been chosen by a local Freshwater resident. Camp Lodge Copse as it’ll be known should be the perfect spot to sit and watch the sky for those returning swifts.
For more information on swifts and how you can help, visit: https://www.swift-conservation.org/.
