A group of local residents are helping to restore a super-colony of swifts in the West of Crewe
Swifts are a very iconic species of our towns and cities. With their sickle-shaped wings and screaming calls, they were once a common site across many parts of Cheshire, but nowhere more than Crewe.
Andy Stubbs, Wilder Communities Officer for Cheshire Wildlife Trust and local resident to Crewe said: “Many might think of the railways when they think of Crewe, but some know it as the home of one of the most important swift colonies in the whole of the North-west.
With over 450 nesting pairs in the estate around Bowen Cooke Avenue as recently as 1995, there would have been well over a thousand swifts once the young fledged at the end of the summer.
A real wildlife spectacle, right on the doorstep of these terraced houses. The numbers of swifts here saw the site designated at a Local Wildlife Site (LWS), highlighting just how important this colony is.”
However, swifts have been in a national decline, the speed of which matches their name with a 62% decline in the past 25 years. A survey in 2023 suggested that the swifts of Crewe hadn’t faired any better than their national siblings.
In the LWS, nesting pairs dropped below 100 for the first time in living memory, with just 50 counted. Elsewhere in Cheshire, swift colonies are now locally extinct where dozens of pairs used to soar. One of the main drivers of this decline is loss of nest spaces. As soffits and fascia boards are renovated, swifts lose their traditional nest sites in the eaves of houses.
Urgent action needed to be taken.
Luckily, Crewe residents have stepped up to the challenge to save their wildlife! Crewe Clean Team have offered free swift boxes to residents living on the estate at the middle of the LWS thanks to funding from Crewe Town Council. This will replace those lost nesting spaces and allow the colony to build in number going forward.
Dave from Crewe Clean Team said: "A lack of suitable nesting sites is not the only problem facing swifts, but it is one that can be addressed. We will install over 60 boxes in 2024 and hope - through sponsorship - to extend the project into future years."
Alongside this, Haslington Parish Council have funded £1,400 worth of swift boxes at the other side of town as well. The number of breeding swifts in the parish fell from 90 pairs in 1995 to six in 2023. This is a story that is sadly echoed in colonies in Alsager, Holmes Chapel, and Middlewich, where surveys report zero birds at the last count. Other towns in the county have seen swifts holding on with just single figures of nests.
Swift action by local residents has also been happening in Stockport -
Adam, Wilder Communities Manager for Cheshire Wildlife Trust said: “Thanks to funding from National Heritage Lottery Fund, we have been able to kickstart a swift town campaign across Stockport. This has taken the form of over 100 swift boxes being installed in 2024, making sure Stockport swifts have somewhere to call home for the future.
We have also trained local residents to undertake surveys and provide data of where swift colonies exist, so we can focus future conservation efforts. It’s been brilliant to see the local community rally around this iconic species and to make a concerted effort to bring them back to their former glory in the skies of Stockport. We are now looking at how we bring interested residents together to help them build their collective power and push for real change for swifts across the borough, and beyond!”
Have you noticed swifts declining in your street? Have soaring numbers above your town dwindled to a fraction of the population? Could you start a swift scheme to bring nesting sites back to where you live? Or could you encourage more flying insects into your garden to help provide food for swifts and other species throughout summer?
Gardeners are being encouraged to install nest boxes and create habitats that boost insect numbers to help swallows, swifts, and martins as part of a new campaign: