The Swift Project is delighted to have received funding to install a further 32 swift boxes across Storrington and other nearby villages. Wilder Horsham District has agreed to fund a second tranche of swift boxes across Amberley, Billingshurst, Pulborough and Storrington, to help efforts to secure the future of this iconic bird, which has suffered a 66% decline in the last 30 years.

The swifts are starting to return after their long migration from Africa and will spend only a short time with us nesting and rearing the next generation of these amazing birds. Swifts spend almost their entire lives in the air, only touching the ground for this brief period in Spring when they seek out nest sites in the eaves of our buildings. Modern buildings, and particularly renovations to older buildings, have excluded swifts from many of their traditional nest sites. But Sussex Wildlife Trust is determined not to let them disappear altogether from our villages, by installing nest boxes for them to use to offset the many nest sites that have been lost.

Last year, following a detailed survey of existing and possible nest sites, the Group asked local residents and business owners to host one or more nest boxes on their homes and premises.  This process was repeated this year and once again many willing hosts came forward. So far, the Trust has installed more than 85 nest boxes in local villages across our corner of West Sussex.

The sight of swifts swooping and diving between the buildings in our villages screaming as they go is one of the iconic spectacles of early and high summer and volunteers are now busy across our patch enjoying their antics and also watching them to try to identify where swifts have found places to nest in the eaves of our homes, but also hoping to see them moving into the new homes that we have provided.

This year many of the swift box “hosts” have agreed to play their calls from their windows to let the swifts know where there is a nest site for them to investigate. Swifts often fly up to a place they think might be suitable and bang their wings on the eaves, or on nest boxes, to see if anyone is already nesting inside. By playing the calls, it is hoped that the swifts will be attracted to the boxes and decide to take up residence.

The group is also pleased to announce that other local villages are starting to work towards a better future for swifts. It is soon hoped that Fittleworth and West Chiltington will be looking to install boxes in their villages.

Anyone interested in joining the band of volunteers who roam the streets of our villages in the evenings reporting on and enjoying the sights and sounds of our swifts, can contact the Group at swtstorringtonregion@gmail.com.

Wilder Horsham District is an innovative five-year partnership between Sussex Wildlife Trust and Horsham District Council working to deliver a Nature Recovery Network for Horsham District.