Project Dates: 31.12.2024 to 31.03.2026

A second year of funding for Devon Birds‘ Swift Boxes project, which aims to address the decline of the European Swift, a red-listed species whose population has plummeted by 60% in the UK over the past 25 years.

A key cause for the decline of this much-loved bird species is the loss of suitable breeding sites due to the ‘tidying-up’ of old buildings. 

By utilising church towers, the project capitalises on stable, long term structures to provide well-suited nesting habitats for these iconic birds.

Year one of the project enabled Devon Birds to:

• Install nesting cabinets for breeding European Swifts in 12 churches across Devon.
• Host two public meetings, with approximately 170 attendees.
• Establish a network of “Swift Champions” – local community members passionate about swifts, who support  activities in individual churches and their communities.
• Generate 1,116 online interactions and 2,570 visits to the project’s interactive map page.

 

Additionally, outside of DEF’s funding, the project team undertook an installation at Exeter Cathedral, creating 128 nest chambers.

Overall, the Devon Swift project installed 1,204 nest chambers in 2024.

Patience is required when measuring success because nest chamber occupancy usually takes 2–3 years. However, evidence from similar projects in other parts of the country shows that within five years, between 50% and 70% of chambers will be in use.

The popularity of the project has ignited demand for replication throughout Devon. With a dedicated team, ongoing installations, and strong community support, there is increasing demand to expand these efforts.

DEF’s second year of support will enable Devon Birds to continue delivering this popular project, installing more nest cabinets and audio lures in churches throughout the county.

The overall aim is to kickstart many more swift colonies in towns and villages across Devon, to accelerate a recovery in population numbers, while inspiring people to think about how they can accommodate swifts in their own homes and outbuildlings.

N.B. DEF initially awarded £5,000 via Crowdfunder to encourage more donations from the public in support of this incredible project. During a two month campaign together with Devon Birds we raised an additional £6,576 to add to our grant. Huge thanks to everyone who so generously supported the Crowdfunder to enable more swift nest boxes to be installed throughout Devon this summer.

 

Image credits: Devon Swift Project 

IMPACT SUMMARY September 2025

Project Activities:

• Created a network of 72 ‘Swift Champions’ who are helping collect data and cooridnate individual church sites. ‘Swift Champions’ for the project, throughout Devon, spent many hours throughout the summer, gazing at the towers, recording their sightings.
• The project reached 50 installations in Devon’s churches recently, with a total of 1,952 individual chambers installed.
• There are 26 churches on the list awaiting a feasibility survey with many of them willing to part-fund/donate to the installation.

 

Project Impact:

• The 2025 season, the first year for most of the churches, has produced some amazing results with 6 locations confirming entries/nesting pairs, and many more reporting sightings of swifts interacting with the swift callers.
• The overarching impact of the project, is the creation of crucial nesting habitats for a species which has seen drastic declines in the UK due in part to loss of nesting sites.