Retrofitted Swift boxes in a gable end

These are the neatest and most professional retrofitted internal Swift boxes we have seen.

The pictures below tell their own story, but first, in his own words:

Update 2016: Following one pair occupying a box in 2015, 2 pairs bred in 2016 as well as 2 more occupied boxes!

Michael Osborne

9 neat entrances in a gable end
There are more pictures on the Read more button below

We hired the equipment - a diamond drill and 117mm dry core. All the holes were drilled from inside to out. The breakout on the outer brick face is minimal if you back the drill pressure off when nearly through. Main thing to make sure is that the drill being used has a clutch and not to use the hammer action as it damages the diamond tips of the core.

The core has a pilot bit in the centre. It's best to start the drilling off with the pilot in place then remove it once the core is started, otherwise it slows drilling down.

The entrance plates are made from 12mm exterior cement board and cut using a tile cutter blade in a standard Jigsaw. The entrance holes were cut out by drilling through with a masonry bit big enough to get the Jigsaw in to then cut out the shape. To try and avoid the birds confusing entrances, I made some of the holes semi-circle shapes. They're all 29mm by 75mm. The runways inside the tubes are made from the same material as the entrances, glued into place using Sticks Like All Weather Adhesive. 

All of the entrances and runways were sealed with a brick sealant called Stormdry prior to painting. The tubes and entrance plate assemblies were then sealed into the wall using an exterior sealant.

The pipe used is a standard 110mm (external diameter) soil pipe, available at most DIY stores.

To match the brickwork I bought a number of Sandtex tester pots and mixed them in situ on the ladder to match the surrounding bricks - adding sand to get the correct texture.

The boxes are made from 12mm marine ply and are all 450mm x 310mm internally. The internal height is 200mm apart from a few boxes which needed to be reduced in order to fit them into the space. 

All of the boxes are wrapped in insulation to try and reduce heat transfer from the loft which gets hot during the summer. The angled brackets which the boxes are screwed to the wall with are available from B&Q. I've then sealed around any gaps between the box and the wall with a gap filler. The hinged backs have an acrylic viewing panel in them which have slideable covers on the outside - just in case the loft light is turned on accidentally!

Swifts in the Maiden Tower

The Maiden Tower, Baku

Here is a heartening story from Azerbaijan. In the capital, Baku, an historic local landmark known as the Maiden's Tower has been home to swifts for many years. Holes in its crumbling walls have provided nestplaces for about 250 Swifts for the past 30 or 40 years.

The tower is now being repaired in order to combat a hundred years of weather damage. But the repair, when completed, will leave only about 40 holes usable by the Swifts.

Fortunately, a project is underway to install additional specially-designed Swift nestboxes on nearby local buildings to compensate for the loss. This work is being carried out on the initiative of the State Historical-Architectural Reserve of Azerbaijan, whose Deputy Director, Samir Nuriyev, is making a presentation of the Baku Swift Project at our Cambridge InternationalConference in April 2014.

For a fascinating preview, listen to this podcast of an interview with Samir on Irish Radio. Also, for more information, visit www.swift-conservation.org, whose Director, Edward Mayer, offered valuable advice to Samir and his team.

New accommodation in nearby building

A brief history of Swifts at Lyndale Avenue, Bristol

We were sent this story by Mark Glanville, who has persevered with building a successful colony on his house in Bristol. Bristol has been elected Green Capital of Europe 2015 and Mark's colony is an example of what pro-active conservation in the City can achieve.

[Postscript: Mark now has a website bristolswifts.co.uk]

I have lived in Lyndale Avenue since 1989. It is a 1920’s semi-detached property situated on the outskirts of Bristol approximately 3 miles from the city centre and ¾ mile from the River Avon as the crow flies. The local area has a mixture of both private and council houses surrounded by many parks and open spaces including the famous Clifton Downs.

I have been interested in wildlife in general, and birds in particular, all my life. My own house has a large south-facing garden which I have designed to encourage as much wildlife as possible.

I first became aware that Swifts were nesting in my house in May 2005. Whilst I was painting the front bedroom windows one flew over my head and “disappeared” under a raised roof tile. From that day on my love for these remarkable birds has been immense. 

The original nest boxes

Back in those days, information about Swifts on the internet was very basic indeed, and my first nest box designs were rudimentary to say the least. They looked like long brown shoe-boxes, with a large side entrance. I installed them in a row under the soffit above the garage which gave them only a 3 metre drop. Needless to say they were not successful.

The updated nest-box design

By 2006 I had changed my nest box design, the first of many alterations to come.

I also painted them the same colour as the house (magnolia) to try and blend, purely for aesthetic reasons.  I had also acquired a swift CD which I played almost continuously. My original pair returned to their nest under the roof tiles in late April. Throughout the summer, despite playing the CD on a daily basis, I was unable to attract any newcomers into any of my nest boxes, which now numbered 14.

This routine continued for 2007, 2008 and 2009. As soon as the original pair returned each spring I played the CD as loud and often as I could. This did attract small groups of non-breeders from time to time, but for some unknown reason I couldn’t get them to go anywhere near my boxes.

Nest box cabinet

By May 2010 and after the arrival of my original pair, the design of my boxes had changed once again.

There was now a mixture of all shapes and sizes, each with a ribbed landing strip under the entrance hole. 

It was during June that I had a flash of inspiration.  I was watching a new pair prospecting around one of my drain-pipes and completely ignoring my nest boxes (as they normally did). 

Addition of sections of pipe

These newcomers seemed intent on flying up to and trying to squeeze in behind the drain-pipe where it joins the gutter. They seemed drawn to the darkness. Immediately out came the ladder and I fitted small 80mm sections of black pipe adjacent to each entrance hole on every box.

This worked almost immediately and within a couple of days I had 2 new pairs taking up residence. By the time they left in early August they had both built two perfect small nests. 

In 2011 all 3 pairs returned to breed, they were joined by a pair of non-breeders in June. The previous winter I had installed cameras in all of my boxes, so I was able to record their activities in greater detail in my logs than ever before. I had also removed the small sections of drain-pipe on each box and replaced them by painting the landing strip black, directly beneath each entrance hole.

2-box cabinet with pipe section

This is the design which I have found the most successful and I haven’t changed it since.

In 2012 only 3 out of the 4 breeding pairs returned in May, but again they were joined by another non-breeding pair in June.

In 2013 all 4 breeding pairs returned in May and were unexpectedly joined by another breeding pair in early June making 5 breeding pairs in total. These were joined in July by 2 more non-breeding pairs who took up residency and built their own nests, making it my best year to date with 7 pairs in total (5 breeders, 2 non-breeders - 6 pairs in nest boxes & 1 pair under the roof tiles).

Black pipes replaced with black paint

My only bit of advice to anyone starting out would be to have a little patience. Install the best box design you can (doesn’t matter if it’s homemade or retail). Play the swift CD as loud and as often as possible, and if you are lucky they could take up residence almost immediately. However sometimes though (like me) it might take a little longer, but don’t give up – keep on trying!




Here are some videos:
Swifts in one of my nest boxes in June 2011
Swifts prospecting in July 2013

Mark Glanville

Swift intervention in Ballyclare

Rodney Monteith sent us this inspirational story, written by Sharman Finlay. It will be interesting to see if their prompt intervention will be successful.

8 Filcris Zeist-style boxes and 2 speakers.
Photo Rodney Monteith

Close up of 1 box and a speaker. Photo Rodney Monteith

One could be forgiven for wondering why James Gault and I, Sharman Finlay, were devastated by the demolition in February of a derelict, charmless former supermarket in Ballyclare, Northern Ireland . When you find out that James is a member of Larne RSPB group and I am a member of the Antrim group, and that both of us are keen and active conservationists, perhaps it becomes clearer? The old building was home for many years to nesting swifts and the prospect of the birds returning from their long migration from Africa to find their home was gone filled us with sadness, almost to the point of tears.

Both of us await the annual return of migrating swallows, martins and swifts with eagerness; the turn of the season, the anticipation of longer summer days. My late husband and I had our children primed to spot the birds, rewarding the first sighting. The swifts' joyful screeching overhead as they zoom around like miniature fighter planes is a part of summer; something without which our area and our souls would be bereft.

What to do? Brenda Campbell, the leader of my R.S.P.B. group, immediately agreed that some intervention must be possible and we met in Brown's Coffee Shop to discuss Swift Action to Save our Swifts. Edward McKee, a master craftsman and all-round handyman offered help, as did Rodney Monteith of Greenmount College, an expert with experience in interventions to secure swift habitats. Kate McAllister offered support and ideas too. Plans began to take shape; boxes and callers would be ordered and approaches made to various people.

Attempts to secure funding from the demolition company and developer fell on deaf ears, but Gary Millar of Millar's Butchers, whose premises are very close to the former site, immediately offered to have swift boxes and callers located to the rear of his building and kindly offered to install them himself. Many people looked at me as if I were mad when I explained our plan, but Gary calmly agreed. This offer of doing the installation work removed the substantial charge which would have been levied for the hire of a cherry-picker. Naturally, we queried Health and Safety issues, but Gary was happy to use the services of a friend, a local contractor, Colin Patterson.

The time up to the arrival of the swifts passed very quickly and when I spotted the first swift on the 30th April, I began to get a bit panicky; Gary had been rushed into hospital that weekend; 10 boxes had arrived and 2 callers; Rodney had got the wiring and housing organised for the latter with the assistance of Edward. Was it all going to be in vain? Swift numbers were growing by the day, but my normal joy at watching and listening to their antics was tempered by anxiety. Brenda and I exchanged feverish text messages and liaised with the others. Result!!! Gary was not to be deterred and insisted on holding the ladder while Colin did the installation and 8 Filcris boxes and 2 speakers were in place by the end of the week. Gary's wife, Daphne, also an R.S.P.B. member, is monitoring the speaker system which uses the Kinter amplifier playing an SD memory card, as detailed on the AFS site, to ensure they are working. Needless to say, we have all been inspecting the boxes( from ground level!) and some swifts have been spotted flying very close to them. It is a case of watch these spaces.....

We have had publicity from our 2 local newspapers and hope that people will realise what else, other than a building, is lost when demolition and redevelopment take place.

Swift boxes in a garage gable end

Back in 2009, we were contacted by Jacky Gulliver from Thornham in Norfolk for advice in putting Swift boxes into a garage she was having built - this is her story so far. It is another example of doing something aesthetically very pleasing.

Plywood nestbox sits behind the brickwork

THE NESTBOX  

is made from 7mm ply and each is 325 mm long x 205 mm high x 230mm deep.

The box has a hinged back for cleaning etc. 

The front of each box has a piece cut out.  This is the same size as a brick face plus mortar lines and was used as the dummy brick front.   

THE DUMMY BRICK FRONT

The entrance hole, 75mm wide x 30mm high, is positioned to one side of the front and cut about 10mm above the floor line.

To make it look like a brick we just used PVA glue and sprinkled brick dust and bits on it.  Better would be to do the whole Blue Peter thing as you suggested, and give the front a brick colour base coat first.  If the edges are left they can be painted like mortar lines.

Close up of dummy brick front

To fit the front we just screwed a ply floor to it so it sat on the bricks and pushed it up to the box - we have made them a tight fit and this has worked fine so far but possibly screwing the front into side battens would be better as long as this didn't foul the entrance hole.

In one of the lower boxes we have a small cd player and use the remote to turn it on and off.  A bird tried to get in there so we have made that entrance hole inaccessible.

We played the cd as much as possible and certainly whenever we saw Swifts about.  In 2010 birds occasionally looked in and in 2011 there seemed to be more activity and we wondered if they would nest but there was still a lot of work going on here.

In 2012 there was no disturbance near the garage and we were able spend time watching.  Sitting on the front drive, leaning back, feet up, staring with binns at the garage wall can be quite a talking point for neighbours!

Can't tell you how excited we were when we realized birds were actually going in and out.  They go so quickly - if we blinked we'd miss them!

The whole point of the project was of course to help Swifts - how awful to fly all the way back from Africa only to find your home gone - re roofed, building knocked down etc.  BUT we have had so much enjoyment watching for them and what a thrill when a bird interrupts its aerial acrobatics to look in our box - we can't wait to see what happens this year!

New Swift Homes at Greenmount Farm, Antrim

Another excellent example, this time from Antrim, Northern Ireland, of how, with a little ingenuity, an existing colony can be saved when a building is renovated.

Contributed by Rodney Monteith

Just outside the town of Antrim in County Antrim lies Greenmount Campus, part of the College of Agriculture, Food and Rural Enterprise (CAFRE). Within its grounds is a historic farm courtyard dating back to the mid 1800’s that has served both as a working farm building and a training area for the hundreds of agriculture students that have passed through during the past 100 years. Recently some renovation work was carried out to the building and I had the opportunity to examine some Swift nest sites under the slate roof that had been used for many years. 

Square nest site, 200mm x 200m

There has been a great deal of discussion regarding size of entrance hole and nest chamber dimensions so the measurements of the nest spaces are interesting.

Nesting under a slate roof the birds had used an area with a maximum head room of approximately 90mm and this tapered to zero at the front of the chamber due to the slope of the roof. The floor of one square chamber was 200mm x 200mm while the other was a triangle similarly 200mm x 200mm- so half the floor area.

Triangular nest site, 200mm x 200mm

Bearing in mind the slope of the roof the triangular nest site must have been very cramped but was used successfully for many years, and considering the recent discovery of Swifts nesting in House martin nests this obviously wasn’t a problem.

In February 2012 the old roof slates were removed and repairs were made before re-covering.

New nest sites

The timing of the renovation work was coordinated to reach completion before the breeding season and as part of the work the ”fill” on top of the wall was removed. This provided potential nest sites but with no access points for the birds. The original nests were in small sections where the fill was missing but the addition of a fascia board meant the original access points were blocked.

This problem was overcome by partially removing some of the overhanging bricks to provide a series of 30mm x100mm gaps for access to a total of 18 nest areas.

View from the ground showing entrances

Since several pairs of Swifts nest nearby it was not long before the new sites were discovered by prospecting birds, aided by the fact that 3 of the sites were quickly adopted by House Sparrows.

Three of the new sites were visited by Swifts and one that had reared House Sparrows had a pair of Swifts that used it from 24th June until 14^th August 2012. Hopefully 2013 will see several of these new nest sites occupied successfully.

St Andrew's Oakington

Written by Dick

We installed 8 nest boxes in 2 cabinets on the south side of the belfry in St Andrew's Oakington in 2008. As it is difficult getting access to mains power, we did not play attraction calls until 2011, where our Box of Swifts made this feasible. This resulted in a lot of Swift activity on many days near the nest-boxes, but no Swift succeeded in finding an entrance. We were hopeful that the birds from 2011 would persevere in 2012, but alas no success this year either. There are two pairs of Swifts nesting precariously in crevices on the sides of the louvres in the south and west sides.

St Andrew's should be a great success. Years ago it had a vibrant colony on the south side of the chancel, until roof repairs excluded them.

Fronts and backs of cabinets. The outsides are darkened 

rendering them virtually invisible. Entrance positions

are dictated by the stonework. The 3 chambers with nest

concaves on the west side did not have concaves on the 

south side, and vice versa.

Since the original cabinets, we have learned that Swifts' 1st choice is somewhere near the tops of the louvres, their second choice is somewhere near the bottom. Our original cabinets are in the middle.

So, with the permission of the PCC, we built 2 more cabinets for the tops of the louvres on the south and west sides. The triangular shape fitted the batons that support the bird-proof netting.

We debated whether to put 3 large boxes in each triangle or 6 smaller boxes. As the existing 2 pairs of Swifts nest in spaces very much smaller than this, we went for 6 boxes in each cabinet.

Boxes in the south side. Photo Bob Tonks

The floor area of each chamber is a minimum of 220mm wide by 275mm deep. The headroom in each chamber is 100mm.

Holes were made in the netting by cutting the sides and top of a rectangle with wire cutters, then bending the wire inwards and downwards. This conveniently blocks any small gaps below the entrance.

Boxes in the west side. Photo Bob Tonks

Nest concaves were placed in half of the boxes, in the hope that we can collect more data on Swifts' preference for this facility.

We did not provide inspection doors, as we think that, should we wish to inspect the boxes before the end of the breeding season, we can do that by removing the whole back, then moving it up, left and right to take a peep at the contents.

We intend to resume playing attraction calls in 2013.

St Andrew's, Oakington: Swifts once nested under the eaves on the south side of the chancel
 © Copyright John Sutton and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence

More on the old St Neots factory site

2 white faces peer out. One could be a chick.

UPDATE 20th July 2012: We went to St Neots to see progress. From the scaffolding, we found feathers in boxes 11 & 12, a completed nest in 10 and we saw a swift disappear into box 8. A short while later, 2 white faces appeared at the entrance. Yeessss!!
Further, we found four occupied boxes out of the 12 in the church, up from 2 last year.

UPDATE 24th May: Marcus de Figueiredo reports seeing 2, possibly 3 pairs of Swifts using the new nest sites. The netting has been removed and although the scaffold poles are still in the way, the Swifts ignore them.

Written by Dick
We can report good progress in the story of the old Brook Street factory site Swift colony. After a shaky start we have excellent cooperation with Callisto Homes who have made great efforts to achieve a satisfactory solution to the loss of 6 Swift nest sites.

Bill Murrells assessing the space utilised by Swifts
before the roof was removed. Photo Alison Pearson

First, let's examine where the Swifts nested under the asbestos roof. As is normal, they were nesting on top of the wall under a single layer of asbestos. One can only imagine the temperatures reached in the heat of the mid-day sun, and, not surprisingly, when Bill Murrells examined the nest sites, he found a number of dessicated Swift corpses. This place was far less than ideal for nesting Swifts.

A dessicated Swift which probably died from heat exhaustion
Photo Alison Pearson

One can only wonder at the success rate of Swifts nesting in such a difficult situation.

It was refreshing that the project manager, Marcus de Figueiredo and the bricklayers on site, quickly got on board with what needed to be done to try to rescue, and improve, this well known Swift colony.

As previously reported, Bill came up with the great idea of using air brick liners, customised using an angle grinder to turn them into attractive, effective Swift bricks

Swift bricks in position. Photo Marcus de Figueiredo

Although the bricklayers were unable to use the total length of the bricks supplied, we have ended up with 12 nest places, roughly 210 x 175mm in floor area, with an entrance 75mm x 28mm. We know that Swifts can breed in spaces smaller than this, so it will be interesting to see the uptake in these new nesting places.

Photo Marcus de Figueiredo

It now remains to place a barge board that covers most of the front of the nest-boxes, insulating them from the sun.

There are now 12 quality nesting sites, where before, there were 6 less than ideal nest sites. What started off as a potential disaster for the Swifts of St Neots, over the period of a week, is ending as a triumph for cooperation, for the Swifts, and for the people of St Neots who can continue to enjoy this well known colony.

Postscript:
On 11th May, we (Dick and Bill, with David Gill) were escorted by bricklayer, Lee, to see the finished boxes with the barge board in place.

Left side entrances partially or wholly behind the barge board

At first we were dismayed, because, on the left side, some of the entrances were behind the barge board. However, on closer inspection, we found there is a 50mm gap between the barge board and the wall, leaving plenty of space for a swift to crawl up into the entrances.

Right side entrances clear of barge board

Left side entrance

Right side entrance

Bill Murrells with bricklayer Lee

The swifts are quite likely to be attracted to this gap, as it is exactly the kind of place they would seek nest sites.
With the barge board in place, the boxes are well sheltered from the sun, so there should be no problems with temperature on this south-facing aspect.