Introduction

Location, location, location

Swifts rely on the existence of gaps and holes in the outer fabric of buildings giving them access to a safe space within which they lay their eggs. Swifts are remarkably faithful to their nest sites and this allows them to return from migration and start breeding without having to find a new nest site. The downside is that if access is blocked it is likely then the pair won’t be able to breed that season.

As buildings are renovated, repaired and upgraded those vital gaps and holes are being lost and it is likely that this is the primary cause of the drastic decline in the breeding population of this species.

The successful conservation of Swifts as a viable species in the UK depends on us being able to stem this loss of nest sites and one way to do this is by protecting existing nest sites and colonies.

To do this, we first need to identify and record the exact locations of where Swifts are breeding, hence the Derbyshire Swift survey.

The accompanying blog delves into this a bit further and explains how the data from this survey will be used and why current recording methods are inadequate for this purpose.