A project that ran through 2024 will provide stronger support for an under-threat bird returning to Denbighshire this year.
Denbighshire County Council’s Biodiversity Team last year launched a project to provide better protection for swifts nesting across the county.
Swifts visit the UK during the summer, flying nearly 3,400 miles from spending the winter in Africa to breed in the UK. They pair for life returning to the same site each time.
They like to nest in homes and churches, using small gaps in the roofs. However, as older buildings are renovated, roof gaps closed and new builds designed differently, swifts have fast disappeared.
Insects that the birds need to feed their young and refuel for their migrations are dwindling with the loss of habitat such as wildflower areas and freshwater. The Council is working to restore this loss through the management of its Wildflower Meadows Project which has so far created nearly 70 acres of suitable habitat to support the regeneration of insect and bird populations.
Despite local and wider work, the swift is currently on the highest conservation priority level in the UK
To provide more support for the swifts visiting Denbighshire, 114 swift boxes were installed by the Biodiversity Team last year across the county. These are a mix of boxes from single occupancy, double, quadruple and a couple with an occupancy of six.
Biodiversity Officer Evie Challinor explained: “These boxes went on schools, Council owned properties including County Hall and a few private residences in the Ruthin, Corwen and Rhyl areas. We focused on these three areas because Cofnod records showed us that swifts were still been found in these locations. We want to bolster these populations before helping them to expand throughout the county again”.
“A lot of our wildflower meadows are also found in these areas, and it ties in nicely giving the swifts habitats that supports the insects they feed on.”
“We ran swift walks in these key areas to help record swifts and foraging swifts as well as ‘screaming parties’. These loudly calling groups of the birds gathering in the skies at dusk indicate to us that this is an area which can support the birds as we take action to strengthen their dwindling populations.”
The Biodiversity Team is continuing to work with Denbighshire Housing, Council home residents, private residences, schools, North Wales Wildlife Trust, Bionet partners, local businesses and local groups such as the Chirk Swifts group (winner of 2024 Bionet award) to be able to drive the project forward.
Cllr Barry Mellor, Lead Member for Environment and Transport and Council Biodiversity Champion, said: “We are grateful to our colleagues in Denbighshire Housing their residents and everyone who support this project last year, as this will help in 2025 stabilise local swift populations.”
