Swift action
A sad decline in Swift numbers could be caused by a number of factors, and one UK city hopes to reverse the species’ fortunes…
How the city of Oxford is hoping to reverse the fortunes of Swifts
Swifts in a Tower was a book by David Lack which came out way back in 1956, and was reprinted in 1973. David is thought by many to be one of the UK’S greatest ornithologists, ever. Move forward to 2017, and the Oxford Swift City project began, aiming to improve the outlook for Swifts in the city, by working to raise local awareness of the many ways that the public can help these vulnerable birds. Recent surveys have shown a 51% decline in breeding Swifts in the UK between 1995 and 2015. The RSPB’S website noted the project’s launch by saying: “The Oxford University Museum of Natural History [OUMNH] has been home to many generations of Swifts over the years, and the study of this
particular population, dating from 1948, is one of the longest ever continuous studies of its kind. For this reason, Oxford is the perfect place to host England’s first ‘Swift City’. “David Lack’s book, Swifts in a Tower, still the key text on Swifts, was based on this population. Funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund, we’re working alongside local communities and partner organisations to improve the prospects for our local Swifts, while also giving people opportunities to connect to nature.”
Swift discussion
I met up with Andrew, David’s son, outside the OUMNH, on a hot day, to discuss Swifts, which were screaming around the tower as we spoke. Andrew is no stranger to the birds, as his mother was assistant to his father, making the long climb into the tower and coming back with many tales. He wrote the booklet, The Museum Swifts in 2002, along with Roy Overall (Roy himself has been studying the Swifts since 1962!) We talked about the museum’s tower now housing 147 boxes for the Swifts to nest in, although, as we spoke, not all were being used. In some years, only half are being occupied with breeding birds, while some have non-breeding birds which don’t breed until their third year. The tower holds a large percentage of the total breeding population of Oxford, with small numbers found in other locations around the city. We talked, too, about the age of the Swifts, with the oldest birds
coming in at 16-to-18 years old, although the average is only eight. This is still an old age for such a small bird. In the last 19 years, Andrew has taken his biology students from the Oxford Brookes University to a field centre in the Massif Central in France. “The windscreen is insect-free until you enter this wild place and you then can tell what you are missing back here in the UK,” explained Andrew. With an estimated 70% loss of insects in Europe, the Swifts are now struggling in terms of finding nest sites and food. Andrew was amazed when one of his students was shown an area of countryside in the UK, but soon complained and said: “This is not what I call countryside, but industrial farming!” France was the location for another amazing Swift story, when Andrew and his family visited a monastery and bumped into a monk who spoke very good English. Questions about the monastery and his work there were keeping everyone interested, when Andrew saw a movement in the monk’s top pocket. Eyes started to leave the face of this monk and peer at his breast pocket. What could be alive in there? A Swift! The monk had picked the adult up from the floor of the narrow streets. With such short legs (Apus means footless in Latin!) and long wings, the poor bird could not get into the air again! So, here was a monk with a Swift in his breast pocket, alongside the son of the man who wrote the most famous Swift book in the world! Andrew explained the reason for the Swift’s lack of flight to the monk and told him he could help the bird get back into the air. The family drove high into the local mountain and released it safely, watching it fly away.
At their most vulnerable
The predation of Swifts was another topic we covered. This came about as a Red Kite drifted over the tower. It’s such a fast bird (work carried out by Lund University in Sweden Professor Anders Hedenstrom and his team found maximum speed of up to 70mph) we pondered on when the Swifts are at their most vulnerable. Coming to the nest hole was one example. Even a Sparrowhawk and a Kestrel had worked this out here at the tower, and a Hobby had been seen hunting Swifts here in Oxford. But, what else is causing the decline? Chris Jarvis, education officer at the Oxford University Museum of Natural History, said: “Anecdotally, there has been a decline in nesting sites. Certainly, sites that I know that used to house nesting