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Swift boxes added to Aylsham church to help breeding birds

Andy Trigg/BBC Pat GrocottAndy Trigg/BBC
Pat Grocott started a local swift group which helped raise funds for the boxes

Nest boxes have been installed in a church to help swifts, which are facing a decline in numbers, to breed.

At Aylsham parish church in Norfolk, the local swift group has added 30 nest boxes to house the birds who migrate to the county from Africa.

The British Trust for Ornithology said the number of breeding pairs across the UK had fallen by 60% between 1995 and 2020.

In 2021 conservationists added swifts to the list of UK endangered birds.

Aylsham Swift Group organiser Pat Grocott said she set up the organisation after becoming aware of the birds locally.

"They are colony nesters and won't nest anywhere. They have to be among their own kind," she said.

Swifts arrive three times in a year from May and the volunteers are hoping the July intake will also colonise the church.

Andy Trigg/BBC Nesting boxesAndy Trigg/BBC
Nest boxes have been installed in Aylsham Parish Church tower to help endangered swifts to breed

The church has set up a speaker system which plays with the sound of calling swifts.

"We hope they attract the swifts into the boxes, we're kidding them if you like, to think there are swifts already here and trying to get them to take residence in the boxes," said Ms Grocott.

Reverend Julie Boyd said the church got involved because "we like to do all that we can to support any environmental efforts to bless the environment and God's creation.

"To have 30 nesting boxes currently in the tower of this church is just wonderfully exciting," she said.

Andy Trigg/BBC Aylsham Parish ChurchAndy Trigg/BBC
The nesting boxes are located in the church tower
Getty Images Swift bird in handsGetty Images
Swifts fly thousands of miles each year from Africa to breed in the UK

Ms Grocott said it was not clear why there has been a decline among breeding pairs in the UK but three reasons were being put forward.

"One is the loss of insect life, previously we used to see a lot of dead flies on our car windscreens but now we don't," she said.

She added there may also be issues with the places the birds migrate to in winter but of great concern was the loss of nesting sites in the UK.

Andy Trigg/BBC Rev Julie BoydAndy Trigg/BBC
Reverend Julie Boyd said the church liked to support environmental work

Reverend Boyd said there was no risk to the congregation from birds' mess.

"The beautiful thing about the swifts is that they enter the boxes through the louvres and are literally going into a small contained box," she said.

"So that's where their nesting site is. They're not coming into the tower, they're not coming into where the bells are."

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