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Charity given grant to fit 'swift bricks' in homes

Provided/Clive Cooper A swift poking its head out of one of the bricks, which have a nesting box built into them.Provided/Clive Cooper
Bricks specially designed to be nesting spaces for swifts have been installed in parts of Sheffield

Specially designed bricks that provide safe nesting spaces for swifts are being installed on properties around Shirebrook Valley as part of a council-funded environmental scheme.

The charity Sheffield Swift Network has installed the bricks, which mimic the natural crevices in which the birds nest, on 61 properties in Hackenthorpe and Woodhouse.

It received £7,000 in council funding, including a £5,000 grant from the local authority's Species Survival Community Fund.

Project leader Ann Ellis said: "It's really good for us to be able to offer this to the city's nature lovers for free."

Swifts spend nine months of the year in flight, migrating from Sub-Saharan Africa to the UK to breed in early May.

In 2020, they were added to the UK's red list of birds most in need of conservation, with their population having declined by 66% between 1995 and 2022.

Fossil evidence indicates the species dates back approximately 50 million years.

Sheffield Swift Network Volunteers from the Sheffield Swift Network charity holding the bricks.Sheffield Swift Network
The charity Sheffield Swift Network received £7,000 in council funding for the project

Ms Ellis explained that modern building and insulation techniques had blocked many of their traditional nesting spaces.

Swifts return to the same nesting site every year, so in cases where once suitable houses had been sealed up, she said the group had seen the birds break their wings trying to get inside.

"It's a magnificent bird, but on more than one occasion we've managed to destroy its habitat," she said.

"They would've nested in ancient forests, but we've cut them down, so they've adapted to come into buildings, where they've been for several hundred years.

"The change to these buildings has happened very quickly over the last 30 years in our desire to block everything out of them - but it's having a huge impact on these birds."

Andrew Howe/Getty An adult swift flying through the air.Andrew Howe/Getty
Swift populations dropped by 66% between 1995 and 2022

Councillor Kurtis Crossthorn, chair of the communities, parks and leisure committee at Sheffield City Council, said: "The work being done by the Sheffield Swift Network to install swift bricks and give these incredible birds a safe place to nest is inspirational.

"This is a brilliant example of how communities can make a real difference – not just for wildlife, but for the future of our planet."

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