You can read the last blog that I did in January 2024 on the progress of the Bishops Waltham Swift colony here . That covered the years up to 2023; and in 2024 numbers remained fairly static to the previous year with a small decline from 91 to 88 in the number of chicks reared. This was put down to the weather patterns in the early half of the season, which led to cold overnight temperatures and mornings up to the middle of June which meant that fewer insects were flying, mak

Highcliffe is one of the areas of Winchester that we survey for nesting Swifts every year.   This suburb is made up of two large areas of housing built by Winchester City Council for rent, mostly between the two World Wars, with a substantial number of houses dating from the late 19 th and early 20 th centuries, much of it terraced. As in so many urban areas, opportunities for cavity-nesting birds such as Swifts, House Sparrows and Starlings to breed in gaps or crevices in

There was a debate in the House of Lords last week to discuss the proposed Amendment 245 to the Planning and Infrastructure Bill. This has been put forward by Lord Zac Goldsmith and proposes that a universal Swift brick be built into all new homes constructed in the UK. This would prove to be a game-changing moment for Swifts (and our other red-listed home-nesting birds) because both the last Tory Government and the current Labour Government have refused to do this to date. O

You can read about the success of Swifts in 2024 on this estate here and that has links to previous blogs on the subject. There were 78 pairs of Swifts occupying nest chambers on the estate this year which appears to be close to the carrying capacity. Two pairs also occupied Model 30 Swift boxes on a house adjacent to the estate. Talks with the Council about providing additional Swift boxes just outside this core area are ongoing but the signs are promising. You can read the

Also known as ‘the Little Church in the Field’ this Church has stood here for around a thousand years. St Hubert’s Church, Idsworth It is...

In the middle of June, Roger and I paid a visit to North Baddesley, a village just south of Romsey. Here at the south-west corner of the...

Of all the large towns or cities in Hampshire, Winchester is probably the one that has been most extensively surveyed for breeding swifts. In 2018, Hampshire Swifts was invited by the University of Winchester to survey all their student housing in the city for evidence of swifts nesting. As these houses and flats were located in nearly all areas of the city, we decided that this was an opportunity to carry out a survey of these areas to try to locate where swifts were breed

Winchester, the ancient capital of England and the county town of Hampshire, has been an important site for human settlement since the...

At the start of 2024 there were three Swift towers in Hampshire. The most successful of these has been the one at Kingsworthy that was...

Hampshire Swifts had our 9-board Exhibition on display in the Portsmouth Natural History Museum for about five months until the start of...

It was back in March that we visited the Cala Homes development site in Alton. Construction work was still going on at that time, though...

Highcliffe in Winchester has been an area of special interest to Hampshire Swifts ever since 2018.  That year, during a survey of swift...

Twenty Swift boxes were installed in the bell tower of Winchester Cathedral in August 2020. That was four years ago and you can read how...

Back in 2018, 28 new Swift nest sites were created in the eaves of Lymington Business Centre where there is an existing colony of Swifts....

Mark Wagstaff has given a further update on his colony in Lee-on-Solent: Trevor and Simon returned towards the end of July and ringed the...

Grateful thanks to Bob Lord and his crew of Swift surveyors for all the time that they have put into surveying the North Milton Estate in...

We don’t often stray out of county, but we were contacted by Simon Nash from Wells to ask advice about whether it might be possible to...

Stannah Lifts was founded over 150 years ago and they now provide passenger, platform, goods & service lifts as well as moving walkways...

Here is a lovely update, dated 25 June, from Mark Wagstaff about his Swift colony in Lee-on-Solent on the south coast. You can read the...

Hampshire Swifts has recently installed lots of Swift boxes on two Colleges here in Hampshire. The first were at Peter Symonds 6th Form...