Best decorative birdhouses to enhance garden charm and support wildlife
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Evening Standard
3 days ago
- Evening Standard
Best decorative birdhouses to enhance garden charm and support wildlife
Birdhouses are a haven for cavity-seeking avian friends. While some species of birds build intricate nests in tree branches, or rather sad-looking collections of twigs in city alleyways (pigeons, we're talking about you), many species either look for or create holes in trees within which they can meticulously craft nests and lay eggs. A few examples of cavity-seeking birds in the UK include the Blue Tit and Great Tit, Starlings, Kestrels, Swifts and House Sparrows.
BBC News
05-07-2025
- BBC News
Swift-watching volunteers sought across West Midlands
The RSPB is encouraging people to sign up to be West Midlands Swift Champions, to help record species numbers and ensure they have places to comes as the number of swifts has declined by more than 60% in the last 25 years, the charity who join the project will conduct swift surveys, engage with communities, attend events and respond to planning applications to see where nesting sites could be implemented."That's particularly happening in the West Midlands Combined Authority area - so Birmingham, the Black Country, Solihull and Coventry," said Jamie Murphy, senior conservation officer. But more volunteers are Murphy said the charity understood there were places in the West Midlands where swifts were no longer seen."We're talking to people who have lived in the area for a long time, and they say 'I remember hearing swifts all the time when I was growing up, but I don't really hear that many anymore'," he explained. The charity believes part of the decline could be down to fewer suitable nesting sites in buildings, and a decline in flying insects."They're urban nesting birds, so they can nest in buildings in towns and cities anywhere, provided that there's the right places for them to nest within them," said Mr Murphy."They're relying upon the built environment now to find their nesting opportunities, so we can coexist with swifts if we provide the opportunities for them in those places." "There's been local clusters of people coming together to put swift boxes up, to install more boxes on their road - so I've been out to a couple of communities this week who have run swift walks... one in Walsall, one in Solihull," said Mr Murphy."You can see in those places that the swifts are starting to show an interest in those nesting opportunities and hopefully that will cause the population to increase."There are several swift groups across the region, including Shropshire Swifts, Ledbury Swift Group in Herefordshire, Swifts of Leek in Staffordshire, and Swifts B30 in the south Birmingham Wood, from Shropshire Swifts, said: "We started up these swift groups in a lot of the little towns in Shropshire.""What we want to do is look for nest sites."We like to record the nests so that if somebody comes along and wants to do a huge development we can mitigate, by either putting boxes or bricks up." Swift-watch walks across the region Shipston-on-Stour, Warwickshire: Shipston Action for Swifts is hosting a swift-watching walk around the town on Saturday between 19:30 and 21:45 Shropshire: Led by Carol Wood of Shropshire Swifts, meeting at Ford Village hall, 20:00 BST to Led by the RSPB in Fort Royal Park, starting at 19:00 BST on 9 Shropshire: Led by Carol Wood of Shropshire Swifts, 20:00 BST to dusk in Caradoc ViewSt John's, Worcester: Held in the Happy Land area of St John's, Friday 18 July, meeting outside The Brewers pub. Follow BBC Birmingham on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.
BBC News
25-06-2025
- BBC News
Consett housing estate building work stops over blocked nest fears
Building work at a housing estate has been stopped after concerns it could block swifts from accessing their in the Bridgehill area of Consett, County Durham, raised the alarm on Friday amid fears potential nesting sites could have been boarded up during ongoing roofing association Home Group said it had halted the work and would take scaffolding down. Save Newcastle Wildlife, which had called for workers to down tools immediately, said the action meant the remaining swift population in the area was safe. Surveys by the campaign group in recent days found more than 19 nests and about 50 birds were also counted."Sadly, we were told by residents that some houses that had nests had already been boarded up," they Watson, a maintenance project surveyor at Home Group, said they were aware nests could be present before the start of the works and "as a result there have been no nests affected".A spokesperson added any existing scaffolding was at properties where there were no Police, which was contacted by the Save Newcastle Wildlife, said the housing association had agreed to pause the building works until added there were plans to fit bird boxes. The swifts, which are red-listed over declining global populations, arrive in the UK from Africa each said a colony had been nesting in the estate for at least 50 years. A spokesperson for Save Newcastle Wildlife said it was one of the largest in the area. "They really mean quite a lot to people," they resident said the birds reminded him of his father - with the family getting a tattoo of a swift shortly before he died."I love the swifts, the whole family does," he said."We always keep an eye out for them."He said he was worried the birds might not return to the estate."Next year is going to be a good tell tale to see how many do come back." Follow BBC North East on X, Facebook, Nextdoor and Instagram.
