Next spring Trevor Road is expecting some visitors. There will only be a brief window in which to see them, from April until they head back to Africa in August for the winter.
But residents of the street in Swinton, and two neighbouring ones are doing everything they can to ensure a stopover. Then they can watch the arrivals grace the skies above their gardens with their crescent silhouettes. When they do rock up their presence will be confirmed by unmistakable high-pitched "chee-ree-eee" screams.
Until late summer they will twist and glide. Local residents working with the RSPB have installed 17 swift boxes in the hope that the birds remember their short-stay and maybe return again to the ready-made airbnbs to nest in future years.
Their nests are usually made of straw, dry grass, and feathers glued together with saliva from the bird's mouth in a crevice in masonry, under the eaves of a house, or on a beam in the roof of a building. But if their journey to breed ends in Trevor Road and two neighbouring roads they have ideal, safe places, for their nests.
The project began when nature lover Gail Messenger posted an image on Twitter of swifts nesting in the eaves of her Trevor Road home. The RSPB then teamed up with Manchester based company Suez, a waste management company, which offers their staff a paid day every year to volunteer.
A workshop was set up by the RSPB in August, where Suez staff helped residents of the street, and Mardale Road, and to make their own next boxes. Electricians, fitters, planners and apprentices from Suez all gave a helping hand.
Gail said: "It has been brilliant to work together as a street to make this happen. We can’t wait to hear the calls of the swifts as they return next summer and hopefully choose some of our nests as their home. What’s brilliant is that once swifts have found a place to call home, they will usually return to the same place each year so we should be lucky enough to have generations of swifts coming straight from Trevor Road. Watching the swifts return each year is as thrilling as seeing the Red Arrows.”
According to the RSPB, swift numbers have declined by more than half over the last 20 years and are now on the UK’s red list for conservation concern. This means they are of the highest priority for conservation action. One of the key reasons for this decline is due to a loss of nesting sites.
Aftet their gruelling journey swifts are on the lookout for spaces to nest in the high crevices of buildings or loft spaces. These sites are often found in older buildings, but many have been lost in cities and towns across the UK, meaning less space for swifts to make their home.
Nest sites are lost as older buildings are demolished, renovated or insulated. Swifts will return to the same space each year to breed and may find their nest site gone or access blocked by plastic soffits or insulation.
Swifts can fly up to 800km (500 miles) a day on migration. They spend their life almost entirely on the wing and even feed, sleep and mate in flight. They feed exclusively on insects and only come to land when nesting. They hunt for insects over a range of habitats from meadows, open water and over woods, to the skies above towns and cities.
An abundant supply of insects is critical for their survival. Parent swifts collect lots of insects to take back to their chicks – up to 1,000 at once, which make a big bulge in their throat. When they have chicks to feed, swifts can gather up to tens of thousands of insects a day.
Most of the 17 boxes will go up on homes in Trevor Road but four will be on houses in Mardale Road and Thornlea Avenue, Lorraine Jones, who lives in Mardale Road, said: "As a young girl I was raised in the countryside in the South Wales borders of Monmouthshire and was used to being surrounded by wildlife. I have since lived in cities, but during lockdown became more aware of the importance of nature. I actually changed careers to do a masters degree in sustainability.
"I remember seing House Martins frequently in my childhood, and recently I have been trying to learn to recognise birdsongs. Gail told us of the swifts nesting at her home they were anincredible to watch. She mentioned that they seemed to be showing an interest in our house and suggested we might want a box for them. I jumped at the chance to help wildlife. It will be an opportunity for me daughter, Callie, to see and learn about nature too."
Hanna Derewnicka, RSPB Manchester Community Project Officer, said: "Swift streets play a vital role in supporting the populations of these incredible species in our cities. This project is a beautiful example of the Salford community coming together, taking action for these charismatic birds that really need our help.
"We need to value our swifts and in Greater Manchester they are a characteristic part of the urban landscape and a magical fixture of a summer sky. Their loss would be awful, they are just so unique.”
Lending their support to the project are Louise Bentley, founder of the Bolton and Bury Swifts Group and Manchester based swift enthusiast Tania Hoare. Tania said: “We all need to be working together to save nature. By providing these hand-crafted boxes, residents are ensuring the birds have a permanent place to call home.”
*The oldest recorded swift was 17-years-old.
*According RSPB swifts are here around May (sometimes as early as April) and they start to leave in August.
*The UK has seen numbers plummeting with a 53% decline between 1995 and 2016.
*There are currently 59 thousand Pairs in the UK (Summer) There was up to 75 thousand pairs recorded in 2016.
*The collective name for a group of swifts is "a scream".
*At dusk, groups of swifts fly at high speeds around the areas where they are nesting.
* West Midlands football team, Walsall, were founded in 1888 as Walsall Town Swifts.
To find out more about creating a swift box visit: bit.ly/SwiftBox
The RSPB is also working with other groups across Manchester such as the Bury Society for Blind and Partially Sighted People who will be building swift boxes for their local centre in the New Year. To find out more about the RSPB, visit rspb.org.uk/
