Swift project to boost numbers hailed a success

Leicestershire County Council was awarded £77,000 to help recover swift populations

Hundreds of  swift nesting boxes have been installed across Leicestershire to boost numbers of the rare and threatened birds.

In 2023, the county council was awarded £77,000 from Natural England to help recover swift populations as part of the Swift Action for Swifts project.

More than 360 swift boxes have been fitted in locations where the birds have been recorded, as well as 150 swift callers - which emit a sound designed to attract the birds to nest.

The authority hailed the two-year project a success, after more than 700 requests were made for the free nest boxes.

According to the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB), swift numbers have been plummeting since 1995 across the country and the species was added to UK's Red List of Birds of Conservation Concern in 2021.

The RSPB said for every 10 swifts seen in 1995 in England, Scotland and Wales, there were only about three by 2022, with a decline of about 62% between 1995 and 2021.

More than 360 swift boxes have been fitted in locations where the birds have been recorded in the county

Leicestershire and Rutland Ornithological Society (LROS) helped Leicestershire County Council to install 364 boxes on buildings across the county.

The society said the principal reason for the decline was thought to be the loss of breeding sites and the reduced numbers of flying insects caused by the use of pesticides, as well as climate change.

The council said the response to the project to help to reverse the decline in swift numbers was "overwhelmingly positive".

Volunteers spent more than 1,000 hours carrying out property assessments, installing boxes, talking to people about swift conservation and the importance of protecting the birds, the authority added.

LROS said it would now start monitoring the birds and assess the success of the boxes over the next five years.

Adam Tilbury, county council cabinet member for environment and flooding, said the project "has made a real difference in helping to halt the decline in swift numbers".

"By working together with partners and members of the public to install nesting boxes in key locations, we've created much-needed safe spaces for these remarkable birds".

The council said it had also adopted swift-friendly measures and practices in their buildings and installation works.