Excellent response to Parish Council’s initiative
As reported elsewhere on this website (see here) these exciting, aerobatic birds are in trouble as changes are made to buildings which block up or remove their nest sites: new soffits, re-roofing, extra insulation etc. The swift population has halved in the last 20 years!
Swifts pair for life and are ‘site-faithful’, so if a building has been demolished, renovated, or the gap obstructed or repaired, they must find somewhere new and quickly.
Swifts are only here for around three months, two of which are spent raising chicks - so if an alternative site can’t be found fast, a whole breeding season will be skipped.
That’s where Buriton’s project aims to change things. By fitting swift boxes onto local houses some new, alternative nesting sites can be offered and hopefully the population of swifts will grow over time.
In 2022 the Parish Council teamed up with the local charitable organisation Hampshire Swifts and asked residents to offer suitable sites for new Swift Boxes.
Over 30 boxes were installed in May including four on the village hall along with a call player which is used from May to July to attract birds to the area. The project has been featured on the PeCAN recent news blog here.
The Parish Council has also ensured that all the new houses currently being built on the development site in the village will have swift bricks installed during construction – as well as bee bricks and bat tiles for other important creatures.
Buriton has an added connection with swifts as it is probable that many of these amazing birds will have travelled through Ghana on their way to and from their winter homes each year.
Buriton has had special links with the rural community of Dominase in the far north of the Central Region of Ghana for twenty years, increasing awareness of living conditions there and providing a wide range of support.
Now that support is being extended to the swifts as well so, hopefully, Buriton will retain this fascinating connection with Ghana!
