18 June 2025

Get ready for the Hackney Swifts Walk!

It’s swift time again! Residents of De Beauvoir Town are invited to join the annual Hackney Swifts Walk from Clissold Park to Stoke Newington on Thursday 3rd July at 7pm.

The walk is led by Mike Priaulx of the Hackney Swifts Group. Those who join are invited to make a £5 donation to the Group. For details of the walk and to book a place email debeauvoirswifts@gmail.com

Migratory swifts, which return to our area every summer to nest, lay eggs and rear young, are being given a helping hand on The Benyon Estate. Year-by-year, our  Maintenance Team installs more swift boxes on appropriate buildings to provide nesting sites.

The Hackney Swifts Group Walk takes place during Swift Awareness Week, which this year runs from 28th June to 6th July.

Last year, (2024) three new swift boxes were put on properties in Mortimer Road. It can sometimes take a while for the boxes to be accepted by the birds, but they are regularly monitored for new residents.

The loss of nest sites, as older buildings have roof spaces and access points for swifts closed up, has contributed to a dramatic decline in swift numbers and we are doing all we can to improve the situation.

The value of keeping a watchful eye on the birds was underlined in May when our Maintenance Manager Duncan Urquhart was alerted by Ian Hammonds, another Property Manager, that there was a swift trapped and dangling by a thin piece of string from its nest box.

He takes up the story: “When the swift went to fly off it appears as if a thin sliver of rope was caught around its leg and attached to the inside of the nest box – it was caught by its leg and just hanging outside the box.”

Ian kindly lent Duncan a ladder so he was able to climb up and release the bird.  “It seemed unharmed and just flew off,” he said. 

It’s not the first time a swift has got into trouble in De Beauvoir Town. In August 2024 a young bird was found in a garden in Southgate Road.  It was gently picked up by swift expert Mike and delivered – via tube and car – to a specialist centre in Stevenage, Herts, where it recovered and was released back into the wild.

These remarkable birds, which spend most of their lives on the wing and fly thousands of miles a year between the UK and Africa, deserve all the help we can give them.