Volunteers install nest boxes to entice swifts

Volunteers spent three days installing 31 boxes on farm buildings

Dozens of swift nesting boxes and speakers playing the birds' calls have been installed on farms in Wiltshire, Hampshire and Dorset.

The project follows a survey of the Allenford and Martin Down Farmer Clusters by the Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust (GWCT).

Volunteers spent three days installing 31 boxes and eight speakers to entice the red-listed birds.

The boxes will be monitored but the trust says it may be two to three years before the birds begin to nest there.

The boxes have been installed with speakers playing the birds' calls

The GWCT said the farmers asked for help to encourage the swifts, which have been in decline, partly due to a reduction in suitable nesting places.

Farmland biodiversity advisor Megan Lock said: "It’s been fantastic.

"We’ve covered an area from Salisbury to Fordingbridge to Cranborne – the clusters together cover 17,500 hectares.

“These boxes provide man-made nesting sites, which helps to create those sites that are disappearing, and the callers let the swifts know they are there which greatly increases the chances of swifts using the boxes.

“It would be wonderful if we did get a nesting pair this year, but I think it might take two or three years, this is a long-term project for us and myself and the members of the farmer clusters will be monitoring the boxes and are hoping for them to become successful breeding sites in the future."

The scheme was funded by The Swire Charitable Trust through GWCT, Fordingbridge Greener Living and a grant from Hampshire county councillor Edward Heron.