New swift boxes installed in a Shanklin church

Shanklin United Reformed Church has partnered with Hampshire Swifts to help create a new nesting site for birds that urgently need new homes.

Robin Harley, conservation officer for Bournemouth, Poole & Christchurch Council, contacted his cousin, Rev Brian Harley, when he spotted that the church in Shanklin has a clock-tower with a bell chamber. Nesting boxes have been installed in a few church towers in Hampshire over recent years, providing a wonderful safe high place for the birds to breed.

Robin and Bob Lord, from the Hampshire group, checked out the feasibility of an installation and returned in April to fit a box with three nesting spaces. These are attached behind the wooden louvres at the top of the tower above the clock where the bell is housed; apparently the birds don’t mind the deafening noise! If these boxes are successful, more may be added next year.

Bob said: “Our swift population nationwide is in trouble and declining. Swifts have adapted to living amongst us in holes in buildings, but these are being blocked-up as we move from timber to UPVC fittings – these don’t shrink and crack, creating small nooks-and-crannies for wildlife.  New artificial spaces are needed if we want to save our swifts.”

Brian Harley added: “As a church, we are delighted to be doing our bit to help wildlife thrive. In the town centre we don’t have any land, so it is great that we can offer a high-level safe nesting place for these tidy, clean birds. They are part of God’s beautiful diverse creation.”