Swifts spend more time in the air than any other bird in Britain, but when they come home, they come home to us. They have been diving and circling for 60 million years, adapting from nests in tall trees to our buildings as we cut down the ancient forests. Our home is their home and we have welcomed them.
I know this because since launching my campaign, The Feather Speech, calling on the government to mandate swift bricks in their name, hundreds of strangers have told me the same story: As children, we became sky-watchers in early May, holding our breath for the first swifts to return, bringing summer with them. We gasped when we saw these feathered acrobats, but as the years went by, fewer and fewer swifts returned. Now we fear a summer when their cries will be silenced. In this collective national portrait, there is love, loss, and the fear of losing the swifts forever.
This is also my experience, my love was strengthened by a single swift that I rescued, raised by hand and released (immortalized in my nature memories, Young bird). My loyalty to this one bird spurred me to stand up for its species and launch a national conservation campaign, naked, painted from head to toe in feathers, and starting a petition (because how else is a nobody going to collect 100,000 signatures to justify a parliamentary debate?).
We did it – 109,896 people signed, enabling a parliamentary debate that was unanimously supported by MPs from all parties, and prompting Lord Zac Goldsmith to help me reach the goal. Yet 15 months later I am still caught up in it, with the government and builders showing alarming resistance to the proposal to include a requirement for rapid-fire bricks in the building regulations. It is not rocket science. It is not radical (the Netherlands have done just this) and it is not even controversial, having been recognised by scientists, conservationists and politicians as And Government advisers consider this a child’s play.
As old buildings are repaired and holes are plugged, swifts have fewer cavities to nest in. Making it compulsory to install swift stones in new buildings would partially solve the problem (Richard Castell).
Empty skies
I find myself muttering out loud, “It shouldn’t be this hard,” especially when the facts describe a very real nightmare: according to the BTO, the breeding population of the swift in the UK declined by 60% between 1995 and 2020, leaving only an estimated 59,000 pairs left. Today the estimate is fewer than 50,000 pairs, and the population trend is expected to continue falling. Swifts are not the only ones affected by their decline. They join three other urban cavity-nesting species on the Red List of species of greatest conservation need – house martin, house sparrow and starling. These birds are united in their plight as a national loss of natural cavities in buildings, which are increasingly blocked or destroyed by demolition works, countless home repairs and nationwide insulation measures. Swift bricks provide a nesting site for all of them.
When people tell me to give up, I think of the words of the poet Mary Oliver: “Tell me, what are you going to do with your one, precious life?” My answer: “Save swifts.” With each passing month, the campaign takes on more and more urgency. Without swift bricks, there is no safe, permanent nesting site for swifts anywhere in Britain, and there never will be as new buildings are built to prevent tooth decay. Yes, insect decline is a huge problem, but if the birds can’t breed here, they can’t exist here. I’m not just fighting for their existence. Swift bricks create a legacy of connection between us and the birds whose flight unites the gasps of old and young, past and present, bringing a dose of wonder to the heart of urban environments.
The Feather Speech has become a campaign that belongs to everyone involved in it. I was incredibly touched that it was named Campaign of the Year – thank you to everyone who voted for it. Passion is a superpower. Together we must continue to stand up for our closest wild neighbours. Please write to Housing Secretary Lee Rowley MP and Foreign Secretary Michael Gove MP and ask them to mandate Swift Bricks. Tell them why it is important to you. Also write to Matthew Pennycook MP and ask Labour to include Swift Bricks in their manifesto.
- This column first appeared in the March 2024 issue of BirdwatchingTo be the first to read the magazine every month, subscribe Birdwatchingor get the magazine along with your bird news by subscribing to either Bird News Ultimate (paper magazine) or Bird News Ultimate Plus (digital access).
