Protecting endangered birds with Hertford and Ware Swift Group
06 March 2024
Swifts are medium-sized birds and they are one of the fastest animals in the world. They spend most of their lives in the air, landing only to nest and raise young while flying around 500 miles a day! Every year, thousands of swifts come to the UK to nest. However, their numbers have declined by half over the last 30 years due to changes in their habitat. Swifts typically nest in crevices in old buildings, and this is becoming more difficult for them as newer buildings cannot accommodate them. This is why we are partnering with Hertford and Ware Swift Group to provide somewhere for swifts to call home!
We are putting up swift boxes on some of our blocks across East Herts in areas that have been specially selected to accommodate existing swift colonies. The high-quality swift boxes, handmade in North Wales by Impeckable, are made of fibreglass and are an easy and unobtrusive way to add more safe nesting areas for swifts. This will help the swift population to recover their numbers which have gone down so much in recent years. Swifts are also a great bird to have in the area- they don’t cause any mess or loud noise and they eat lots of insects! At SNG, we strive to make the communities we work in more sustainable and greener places to live. Installing swift boxes is one of the ways we're actively working towards this goal by protecting wildlife and preserving our environment.
If you are living in blocks on Farm Close and Musley Hill in Ware, please keep an eye out for more information on when the swift boxes are going up. You will receive a leaflet through your door that will specify when you can expect the boxes to be installed. We are also looking at putting swift boxes on houses in other areas. If you live on Sele Road, Parker Avenue, Gosselin Road, Palmer Road, or Revels Road in Bengeo and would like a swift box installed on your home, please let us know! These are the only places we are considering for now, but we are looking at other areas for the future. If you wish to request a swift box, or have any other enquiries regarding swift boxes, you can contact us by emailing the Sustainability team at SSAM@networkhomes.org.uk.
