The inspiration.
The Mid-Nene
Local RSPB Group had a talk about Swifts by Laurinda Luffman of the RSPB in
January 2023. Lurinda’s talk covered the rapid decline in Swift numbers and the
work local Swift groups were doing by putting up nest boxes. There was a lot of
interest from our members, particularly about what they could do to help and
about Swift nest boxes. After that, I asked if the group would support a local
Swift group and use some of the money that we raise to put Swift boxes in local
churches. The group were supportive and that was that!
The
plan.
Following some visits to measure up the belfries of some
churches in the autumn of 2023, the construction of nest boxes began in earnest
in early 2024. With Swifts being long-lived birds and the possibility that it
could take a few years for them to take up residence in the nestboxes, it was
decided to build the nestboxes to last. The nest boxes were built using marine
plywood and all the joints were glued and pinned. For extra protection, they
were all given three coats of fence preservative. This may sound a little
extreme for nestboxes installed inside belfries but, whilst installing some
nest boxes in the church of St Nicholas at Overstone, a squally shower
demonstrated that rain can be blown through the louvred windows and half way
across the belfry floor.
Nest
boxes
Swifts collect their nesting material on the wing, by
catching feathers and pieces of grass blowing in the wind. The nesting material
is then glued together using their saliva. This makes nest building a very
time-consuming process. To give them a head start, all the nestboxes were
fitted with nest concaves, which also ensured they had a nice sturdy cup in
which to lay their eggs. These were constructed using squares of plywood, of varying
thicknesses, with concentric holes of different sizes. Once glued together,
they provided a cup-shaped profile with a vertical rim to prevent eggs rolling
out.
The nestboxes were also designed to ensure that their use
could be monitored. The internal nestboxes were constructed with opening panels
on the back, and the external nestboxes were fitted with opening lids.
Participating
churches.
So far, nestboxes have been fitted inside the belfries of
St Johns Church at Cranford, All Saints Church at Mears Ashby, St Peters and St
Pauls Church at Sywell, St Nicholas Church at Overstone and St Laurence Church
at Stanwick. Four nest boxes have been installed in each of these churches.
Visiting the church belfries has been quite an adventure
and most enlightening. They all posed their own obstacles and challenges.
Whilst some were quite easily accessible via spiral staircases, even if they
were somewhat worn, some involved climbing very steep ladders and hoisting the
nestboxes up using the bell ropes.
Installation
The favoured way of
installing them was to make them the width of the windows and screw them into
the side frames of the louvres. This removed any need to drill and screw into
the masonry or mortar; making it much easier to obtain permission to proceed
from the Archdeacon. However, this requires careful measurement of the windows
as the masonry can be a little irregular. Whilst the church at Overstone had a
nice wooden floor beneath the bells, for others, gaining access to the windows
involved squeezing past or climbing over the bells, whilst walking on the steel
girders that supported them. This was quite an adventure, if a little dirty and
dusty on occasion. For some, the side frames of the louvres were quite wide,
allowing some leeway for inaccurate measurements, but for others there was
little room for mistakes.
All of the churches
were fitted with some sort of mesh or barrier on the windows to exclude Feral
Pigeons and Jackdaws. Holes had to be carefully cut into the mesh to align with
the entrance holes of the nest boxes. In the case of the church at Overstone
this required the use of a small pair of bolt croppers. The one exception to
this, has been St Laurence’s Church at Stanwick, which has wooden weather/sound
proofing boards behind the windows. In this case, rectangular holes were cut in
the boards using a drill and jigsaw, taking care not to drop the offcuts on
anyone below in the churchyard. It was then simply a case of screwing the nest
boxes to the weather boarding, without the need to touch any of the original
parts of the church.
The width of the
windows was found to vary quite a bit. At Mears Ashby there were two windows on
each side of the belfry, each wide enough for single nestboxes. However, the
windows in most of the churches were wide enough to fit double nestboxes
side-by-side.
We have also put up
two external Swift nest boxes at the United Reform church at Brigstock. They
were keen to have some nestboxes, but did not have a belfry.
However, being a
United Reform Church made it a lot easier to get permission to attach them to
the outside of the church. However, I was still a little reluctant to drill
into the old crumbly mortar. Fortunately, whilst looking around the church for
possible places to attach them, we spotted an old oak beam embedded high up in
the wall. Screwing them to the beam provided an ideal opportunity to install
two nest boxes without risking any damage to a listed building.
Other
Wildlife
One thing that all these old, undisturbed buildings have
had in common has been the amount of wildlife that they support. They have all
had large quantities of hibernating Harlequin Ladybirds as well as a few
species of hibernating butterfly; mostly Small Tortoiseshell and Peacock. Of
course, as you would expect with belfries, there was also evidence of bats, but
none were seen or disturbed during our visits. Some of the parish councils are
also very proud of the wildflowers they have growing in the churchyard, the
Swallows nesting in the entrance porches and even the Badgers burrowing under
the fences. There has also been some interest in putting up more nest boxes in
some of the churchyards for Blue and Great Tits, Robins and maybe even Tawny
Owls. Sounds like an opportunity to take this work a whole lot further.
Throughout the summer, we have played the calls of Swifts
from the belfries to help attract them to the nestboxes. Unfortunately, there
are no signs that the Swifts have found the nestboxes yet. However, we started
playing the calls a little late this year due to delays in collecting
sufficient old phones and unwanted MP3 players to play the calls. It can also
take a few years for Swifts to take up new nest sites, so we will have to be
patient and keep our fingers crossed for next year.
Going
forward
There are also more churches showing an interest in Swift
nest boxes, including those at Raunds, Easton Maudit, and possibly Ringstead
and Grafton Underwood. It looks like the adventure is likely to continue with
more ladders, ropes and bells to negotiate, and more installation challenges to
overcome.
This has all been possible thanks to the support of funds
raised by our group, which have been used to supply most of the materials used
in the construction of the nestboxes.
The above article was written by Dr. Ian Wrisdale, a senior member of Northants Ringing Group. Ian is the lead ringer at Stanwick Lakes Nature Reserve and also Chair of the Nene Valley Local RSPB Group.
