29 June 2023

Swift Awareness Week marked with guided walks

The Benyon Estate is helping wildlife under threat as London marks Swift Awareness Week, supporting local swift group leader Mike Priaulx with the installation of nesting boxes and special guided walks to observe the birds.

Swift Awareness Week runs across the UK from July 1st to July 9th, and many local groups are organising walks and talks to highlight the plight of the swift which is disappearing from our skies.

Swifts are among the most agile fliers of the avian world and the migratory birds make a 7,000-mile round trip from Africa to Britain and back every year.   But numbers are down and ornithologists believe a shortage of suitable nesting sites is one reason for the decline.

The Benyon Estate has put up nesting boxes for swifts in De Beauvoir Town in the hope that the birds, which sleep, eat, and even mate on the wing, will take up residence to lay eggs and rear chicks.

Mike, of the local swift group, De Beauvoir Swifts, said: “There are more than 60 swift nest boxes in De Beauvoir - many of these have been installed by The Benyon Estate on both residential and commercial properties.

 

“It often takes a few years for swifts to move into nest boxes and we are still waiting in De Beauvoir, but there are several nest boxes occupied by swifts in adjacent Mildmay, in Islington, so we're hoping that those swifts will spread the word to their next-door neighbours in Hackney!

“In the meantime there have been many other small birds using the swift boxes to nest such as blue tits and great tits, and also house sparrows which like swifts are on the UK red list due to declining numbers, so the boxes are already making a very valuable contribution to the local biodiversity.”

A walk through Hackney to watch the swifts is planned for July 11, just outside Swift Awareness Week but organised to enable as many people as possible to attend.  The route takes bird-lovers from Clissold Park to Stoke Newington Common and is free, although a £5 donation to Hackney Swift Group is suggested. Contact londonsaw2023@gmail.com to book your place and receive full details of the walk.

Last year’s walk included a visit to a wildlife garden and identified a number of nest sites that were previously unrecorded.  There were also excellent views of low-flying groups of swifts, making their unmistakable screaming call.

Swift Awareness Week was first held in 2018 to help raise awareness of the plight of the swift.  Dozens of events have been organised across the UK this year.

https://actionforswifts.blogspot.com/p/saw-2023-events.html

Photos copyright © Mike Priaulx and The Benyon Estate (last image)