Swift boxes

Glamorgan Bird Club have had to remove all its stuff from the Kenfig Reserve Centre. I currently have 11 Swift boxes in my garage. Are there any schemes that might use them? Get in touch with Alan Rosney if you're interested.

Yet another talk

I gave another talk on the plight of Swifts to a church group in Pontypridd today. There were about 25 attendees. As with all these talks, I made some useful contacts and also lined up another talk.

The S brick

Here is the leaflet advertising the new S brick

Swift Conference - Bristol

Linda, Jane and I attended the SLN (Swift Local Network) Conference yesterday, which took place in the Conference Centre at Bristol Zoo. It was well attended and we were treated to a series of very informative talks from Swift enthusiasts from all around the country. It was great to meet many like-minded folk. I'm sure the three of us learned a lot during the day. Thanks to Peta and Jan for organising.

Swift talks

I have given two talks this month. The first was to the Bridgend branch of the Wildlife Trust at Parc Slip, the second was to Brecon U3A in Theatr Brechiniog.  Both were well attended and generated a lot of questions afterwards.  I've got one more lined up for November, to a church group in Pontypridd.

Next week I'm meeting Jazz from the RSPB to discuss our programme of events for the year ahead. In the meantime, we'll be off to the Swift Conference in Bristol in early November, hoping to garner lots of new ideas.

They're up

Thanks to the Vale Council, the swift boxes are up on the school in Cadoxton. If you look at the previous post, you'll see the tower above the roof. We've got four boxes there. We'll have to see if it is feasible to play calls next summer.

Potential project in Barry

One of our Swift Champions alerted us to the fact there was scaffolding up on Cadoxton Primary School in Barry. It's a great looking building with potential for a Swift box project. Having been in touch with the Vale of Glamorgan Council, we've got the go ahead to provide some boxes, which their contractors will fit. Not sure we can add a call system but it may be feasible.

"Swift" walk across the Cardiff Bay Barrage

On 17th July, Glamorgan Bird Club joined forces with the local RSPB group for a walk across the barrage to see the new tower. Twenty five folk attended and we were lucky enough to see several swifts flying over the bay. We gathered around the tower and yours truly gave a short talk on the project and there was plenty of opportunity for questions afterwards. The weather was great for the walk. Later we wandered around to Roath dock to see the sand martin colony there.

We also saw Mediterranean Gull, Peregrine, Whitethroat, Song Thrush, Greenfinch, Dunnock, Cormorant, House Sparrow, Rock Pipit, Pied Wagtail, Great Crested Grebe plus large numbers of Starlings and Black-headed Gulls.

Thanks to all who came along.

Talk to Barry Action for Nature group

It was a packed audience for my talk on Swifts in All Saints Church in Barry (where they have an on-going Swift project). Many thanks to Rob Curtis and the BAfN group for the invitation to spread the word about Swifts. (Yours truly on the left, Rob Curtis on the right)

interesting video

John Duffy sent me this link to a video of swifts in Sienna. What a sight.

https://twitter.com/gremkoska/status/1144850685676130304?s=12

Ely survey

A group (12) of us went surveying last night in the Swift stronghold of Ely. We were blessed with fine weather and there were lots of Swifts screaming overhead. We split in to small groups and eventually located 10 nest sites. Thanks all.

Swift Awareness Week SAW

Did you know that it's Swift Awareness Week this week?  There are events all over the UK, celebrating this iconic species.  We've got a walk in Ely this evening to do a survey of that area and
there are a couple of talks planned (outside SAW, unfortunately.)

The following graph highlights the rapid decline in Swift numbers. Thanks to the BTO. It's almost certain that the Swift will be designated as a red-listed species in the near future.

Article from CIEEM

Check out this really good article on the need for Swift bricks and boxes

http://https//cieem.net/resource/the-swift-a-bird-you-need-to-help/

Cardiff Bay Tower on Springwatch

The Cardiff Bay Swift tower was included in a piece on Swifts on BBC Springwatch this evening. Thanks for your photo Deio.

Interpretation board

The interpretation board was fixed underneath the swift tower in the bay yesterday.

Thanks to Morgan Consult for their work on this. It'll let passers-by know what the structure is all about.

Visit to St Mary Church, Vale of Glamorgan

Went to assess the suitability of another church tower for swift boxes in St Mary Church this week. There's work scheduled for the tower, so it might be feasible to fit some boxes, although I didn't see any swifts in the village during my short visit. Fingers crossed, we can arrange something.

Swift Tower launch event - further detail

As Alan says below, the official launch event took place on 16th May in the Environment Building near the skate park, starting at 3:30 p.m. It was attended by the Lord Mayor of Cardiff, Dianne Rees and the director of RSPB Cymru, Katy-jo Luxton, plus invited guests from GBC, RSPB and Cardiff Harbour Authority. There were refreshments, addresses by The Lord Mayor Dianne Rees, Strinda Davies [chair of Glamorgan Bird Club], Jazz Austin of RSPB Cymru, Katy-jo Luxton [director of RSPB Cymru], Jenny Rathbone [AM for Cardiff Central], and Natalie Taylor of CHA. Afterwards, photos were taken of the assembled company by the tower itself and then there was a question and answer session. All in all a successful afternoon. This report taken from the Glamorgan Bird Club web site [by me]. Here are some additional photos [click on each for a bigger version]:

Nice piece on the tower on BBC Wales news website

Check out the article on the tower here:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-48295087

Swift tower launch

The official launch of the Cardiff Bay Swift tower took place today on the barrage. It was great to welcome the Lord Mayor to tge kaunch event.  Let's hope the swifts like it too.

The tower is up

Bit of a late posting (I've been away) but many of the Swifts are back and the new Swift tower in Cardiff Bay is now up. The official opening ceremony will be on May 16th. More photos to follow. Thanks to Dave Westerland for the photos below.

More on the tower base

Annie Irving sent me this picture of the tower base. It's coming on.

Shovels in the ground

We're up and running at last. Alun Griffiths Ltd started the ground works for the Swift tower this week. The footings should be ready in a couple of weeks to receive the tower itself - then there's the electrics to test etc.

Talk to Gwent Wildlife Trust

I visited Chepstow Yesterday evening to deliver a talk on Swifts. 30 to 40 attendees. Think it went well apart from a glitch with the video that I tried to show. Nice to meet the fledgling Chepstow Swift group

Cardiff Bay Swift tower

More progress on the tower front. The faulty welds have been re-welded by Centregreat in Cardiff and await a fresh coat of paint. The contract for the ground works/earth matting has been awarded to Alun Griffiths and we hope that this will be installed in the near future.

Our aim is to get the tower up this spring, in readiness for the return of the Swifts. We hope to host events (in Swift Awareness Week) to raise awareness of the plight of our Swifts.

The Cardiff Swift Survey will run again this summer. An advert for volunteer surveyors has been placed on the RSPB website. We're seeking as many volunteers as possible. Last year we had 50! So check out the website and sign up. (P.S. If you signed up last year, I'm afraid you'll have to apply again because of GDPR). If we know where Swifts are nesting, we'll have more chance of protecting their nest sites.

All Saints Barry

Howard and I paid a return visit to All Saints Church in Barry last Monday. Our aim was to install the call system in to the 10 box system that we installed earlier in the year in the church tower. Jane Clark and Angela Crutcher-Pugh (local Swift enthusiasts) were on hand to see the system and to learn how to set the timer for later in the year.
Luckily we were able to drop a cable down to a power point in the floor beneath the boxes.

I posted this picture on the Glamorgan Bird Club Facebook page and it received around 2000 views - remarkable. Let's hope for a successful outcome. An article has been submitted to the church magazine.

Swift tower update

We're making progress on the tower. The next job is to "fettle" the swift boxes in preparation for fixing to the structure. A coat of preservative and new latches are needed.