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New Milton Estate Survey 2024
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...
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Sep 19, 20241 min read


Wells Cathedral Swift boxes
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...
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Sep 2, 20242 min read


Swift boxes on Stannah Lifts in Andover
Stannah Lifts was founded over 150 years ago and they now provide passenger, platform, goods & service lifts as well as moving walkways...
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Aug 27, 20241 min read


Lee-on-Solent update
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...
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Jul 9, 20242 min read


New Swift boxes on 6th Form Colleges
Hampshire Swifts has recently installed lots of Swift boxes on two Colleges here in Hampshire. The first were at Peter Symonds 6th Form...
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Jul 3, 20242 min read


Hampshire Swifts install Swift boxes on Farmer Cluster
Hampshire Swifts have installed 31 nest boxes and 8 call players on the Allenford and Martin Down Farmer Clusters, south and south-west...
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Jun 21, 20243 min read


New Swift boxes on All Saints CE School, Winchester
Installing Swift boxes on this Primary School at Highcliffe in Winchester has been on our ‘to do’ list for some time, but recently it has...
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Mar 25, 20242 min read


Bishops Waltham
Bishop's Waltham is a medieval market town situated at the source of the River Hamble in Hampshire. It has a foot in the South Downs...
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Jan 21, 20243 min read


A new house with Swift boxes
Back in mid-September last year I went with Rachel Hardy to the 2023 Wilder Conference and Awards organised by the Hampshire and Isle of...
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Jan 3, 20242 min read


Lee-on-Solent Swifts update
Back in August while we were in Lee-on-Solent I called in on Mark Wagstaff to say hello and to see the location of his Swift colony. You...
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Dec 28, 20231 min read


The Swift population on the New Milton Estate
Last year we reported that the Swift population at the North Milton Estate in SW Hampshire was close to its maximum given the number of...
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Dec 18, 20232 min read


Southsea colony update
Dave Warner now has 11 breeding pairs of Swifts on his house in Southsea from a total of 12 boxes, eight on the front and four on the...
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Dec 14, 20231 min read


Highcliffe, Winchester – a Swift ‘Hot Spot’
The Highcliffe area of Winchester includes two areas of Council housing built primarily between the First and Second World Wars, and a...
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Nov 15, 20233 min read


Letter to Michael Gove
I have written the following letter to Michael Gove. I’m not optimistic that I will get a reply or even that he might actually read it...
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Nov 7, 20233 min read


Hospital of St Cross update
At the end of September Hampshire Swifts had a stand at the Michaelmas Fair held at the Hospital of St Cross in Winchester. The weather...
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Oct 20, 20233 min read


Winchester Cathedral – 13 pairs of Swifts in just 3 years
Roger Maynard, Rachel Hardy and I went to check the Swift boxes at Winchester Cathedral on 20 September. They are positioned in two...
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Sep 28, 20232 min read


Ropley Church – rising like a phoenix
St Peters Church at Ropley was originally built in Norman times, although little remains of its early structure except the south door....
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Aug 1, 20232 min read


The Right Way to Roof a House? The Case of the Upper Stanmore Swifts
In Hampshire traditional swift nest sites in our roofs and eaves have vanished in their thousands as houses are demolished or renovated...
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Jul 26, 20234 min read


Who needs Scientists?
Michelle Reeve is GBW Manager and the Editor of the BTO magazine Bird Table. Back on the 10 April this year I wrote to Michelle about an...
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Jul 21, 20236 min read


Chandlers Ford - Trying to Save a Swift Colony
Since Hampshire Swifts was set up in 2016, we have received very few survey reports of Swifts nesting in Chandler’s Ford. What records...
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Jul 9, 20235 min read


Swifts at Trussell Crescent, Winchester – 2026 update
In 2018, while doing a survey of breeding swifts in Winchester, we discovered a large colony of the birds nesting at Trussell Crescent. Trussell Crescent is made up of two large, curving 3-storey terraces of flats and maisonettes, built by Winchester City Council in Weeke in the early 1950s. This was the only place in Weeke where we found swifts nesting. All the nests were at the back of the Crescent. Swifts were accessing their nests either through gaps in the soffit, or, mo
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Aug 174 min read


Basingstoke Swift Streets
We have recently completed the first Phase of the Basingstoke Swift Streets Project, under which Hampshire Swifts, teamed up with Natural Basingstoke and Birds on the Brink, to increase the numbers of Swifts and House Martins in the town. Southeast England has lost 75% of its swift population since 1994, largely due to the loss of traditional nesting sites, and the project aims to play a part of their recovery locally. We had previously installed some scattered boxes in Basin
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Jun 233 min read
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