Swifts in decline
Swift numbers have plummeted across Cheshire, mirroring a national decline of over 50% since the mid-1990s. Yet, remarkably, a colony of around 200 swifts still returns each year to a housing estate in Warrington. Wild Network Officer Becky Williams went to meet local resident and swift enthusiast Brian Martin from Westy Swift Conservation to find out more.
Summer visitors
It’s a warm day in June, and Brian shows me around the streets in Warrington where one of the last remaining large swift colonies in Cheshire breed over the summer months. The estate looks like any other street ...until you look up.
The air above us is alive with swifts. Slicing through the sky, their high-pitched screams bounce off the rows of 1930s council houses. Homes that, perhaps unintentionally, turned out to be perfect for these birds. Their roofs and eaves have soffits at just the right angle (about 45 degrees), giving swifts an easy route straight into their nest holes.
“See that house? There's seven breeding pairs in that one house alone.” Brian tells me.
Stefan Johansson
A Protected Patch of Sky
Every year, European swifts make the enormous journey back from Africa to breed here in the UK. However, their numbers are declining every year, largely due to a loss of nest sites and declining insect populations. Yet here in Warrington, near the Woolston Eyes Wetlands Reserve, a small population continues to hold on. The local community have been working hard to have this area recognised and protected.
“We’ve got 120 acres of wetlands just two miles from here,” Brian tells me. “That’s where they feed all day. Then they come back here to sleep around 8 pm.”
Becky Williams
Becky Williams
Becky Williams
Community and Conservation
We pause outside another house.
“That one’s got five or six breeding pairs,” Brian says. “But like all of these houses, there’s more we don’t even know about round the back where we can’t see.”
Back in the 1990s, Brian was surveying swifts across the whole county. Today, he’s working with other swift enthusiasts like Karl Green, Louise Bentley and the local community to conserve our biggest colony here in Cheshire.
“It’s a collaboration,” he says. “We work with the housing association, advising on roof repairs and scheduling work outside the May to August breeding season. Another local, Karl, has helped to make and install tonnes of swift boxes throughout the estate. It's a team effort.”
So what can we do to help swifts?
Swifts are remarkably clean neighbours. “Nothing like house martins,” Brian laughs. But they’re also fussy. They return to the exact same nest spot every year. Lose that, and they’re lost. Younger swifts, often nicknamed "bangers," arrive later in the season and can be seen flying up to and banging on nest boxes or buildings to check if they're already occupied, a behaviour thought to help them scout future nesting sites.
Nick Upton
Woolston Eyes Nature Reserve
Woolston Eyes Nature Reserve itself is a marvel of modern conservation. A former industrial site turned into a rich wetland habitat. The Woolston Eyes Conservation Group secured funding to restore the former wetland in 2019, and it’s now home to rare species like the black-necked grebe.
“There were only 50 pairs in the UK last count,” Brian says. “We had 23 broods here alone last year.”
You can read more about the site in Brian’s book: From Wasteland to Wetland: A History of Woolston Eyes.
Swifts love the reserve due to the masses of insects the wetland encourages. Yet it's the combination of architecture and ecology that makes the Westy estate truly special.
You’ve got the wetlands to feed them, and the perfect homes to nest in. It’s definitely the biggest colony in Cheshire.
I would also add: the perfect community of locals who care for and protect these endangered birds.
Becky Williams
The Power of Partnership
Working together, the Westy Swift Conservation group are showing what’s possible. And he’s hopeful.
“We want to protect what’s here so they raise lots of young who’ll go off and colonise other places in Cheshire.”
I agree. This place is unique, not just for what’s flying over it, but for the people working so hard to make sure they still do.
