One of the most evocative sounds in northern Europe has to be the 'scream' (actually a series of notes given in extremely rapid succession) of Common Swifts Apus apus as returning birds blaze trails across our skies from about the middle of May. Few species have caught the imagination of people over the years as has the 'devil bird', and few to my mind represent those long lazy summer evenings quite so well. Lean, supremely adapted to flying - Swifts feed, mate, and even sleep cat-napping on rising thermals - the best chance to see them up close is to find a colony under the eaves of a house somewhere and just stand and watch as they arrow into their nest-holes with incredible precision...

Only, finding a colony is getting increasingly hard. The only species of Swift to nest in Britain, Common Swifts, originally cave and tree-hole nesters, have been nesting in man-made buildings here since Roman times. Whilst this undoubtedly must have historically led to a population growth, Swifts are now in serious trouble: modern buildings are not constructed in a way that enable Swifts to nest in them, and between 1994 and 2003 we lost 29% of all Swifts in England, and 62% of all Swifts in Scotland.

That's a startling fact - nearly a third of England's Swifts and over two-thirds of Scotland's have disappeared in just ten years.

One man determined to do what he can to reverse this disastrous decline is Edward Mayer, a dedicated and passionate conservationist who runs the excellent London's Swifts website (from where many of the stats in this post come from). Edward spends a huge amount of energy talking with architects and planners in London, trying to persuade them to incorporate nest sites - in the form of pre-manufactured "bricks" shaped like nest tunnels or wooden nest boxes - into both new and old buildings. It's a heroic effort given how much construction decisions are mainly cost-driven, but he and his colleagues have had some very notable successes.

I've been very interested in Edward's style of 'direct action' for a while now, and some months ago promised to do a blog to promote his work. I had good intentions, but - well, life just doesn't run to schedule sometimes!

Anyway, I recieved the following email from Edward two days ago which has jolted me into action. The email is quite short but despite its length it really demonstrates just how much can be achieved for conservation with perseverance and genuine love for a species:

Swift nest box project We've just completed a Swift nest box project at New Barnet. This is a Notting Hill Housing Trust / London Borough of Barnet site, where a social housing unit is being built. A local journalist, Paul Harrison, was concerned about the loss of nesting places for Swift in this area, and contacted London's Swifts for help. We provided advice and on-site guidance, and with Paul's determined help, and sympathetic project managers and contractors, achieved an excellent result: 8 new nest bricks inserted in the North and West sides of the building at eaves level. Swift accommodation is now assured here for the life of the building.     If you would like to see this sort of thing happen in your area, and you have some sites in mind, please get in touch with us. Best wishes, Edward

I'm sure also that swifts overseas are in similar trouble. Do any of the readers of this blog have similar experiences/projects in eg North America that they'd perhaps like to get seen by a different web audience - I'd be very happy to post anything on this site if you think it would help...