Swifts are one of our most beloved birds. Their presence is a symbol of summertime, and spirits lift when screaming parties arrive in the skies above town and villages.
Every year, from May to August, swifts become our neighbours, nesting in buildings and feeding in landscapes nearby. Their presence adds to the local distinctiveness and indicates that there is something very special about the local built and natural environment that enables them to breed. But this is something we can’t take for granted. The species faces many risks, including lack of invertebrate food and nest-sites in buildings. The UK swift population has declined 60% since 1995, and in 2021 they were added to the Red List for endangered birds. In contrast, the swift population in mainland Europe has stayed largely stable, signalling that the UK needs to take urgent action to save this very special species.
Bridport Swift Town is a community response to the problems swifts face. The project is a collaboration between local residents, Common Ground, the Bridport Bird Club, Dorset National Landscape, Bridport Town Council, RSPB and the Dorset Wildlife Trust. Collectively, we believe that celebrating Bridport swifts is key to protecting them – by drawing attention to swifts, by expressing how they make us feel, we can spread awareness and gather important data about nesting sites and feeding habits around town that will help support and protect the town’s population in the longer term.
What is a Swift Town?
A Swift Town is a community that recognises and celebrates the joys and hope these wonderful birds bring with them, screaming through the summer. There are plenty of good examples of Swift Towns around the UK, along with Swift Villages such as Cattistock in Dorset, Gunnerside in Yorkshire and Rowsley in Derbyshire. Last May, primary school children in Nottingham held a ‘welcome parade’ for swifts in Sherwood, while artists in Bridport organised a programme of creative events that were free and open to everyone in the community. Every year, more and more Swift Cities appear, like Lancaster and Edinburgh, Bristol and Sheffield, bringing fresh energy, ideas and passion for swift conservation.
All these Swift Towns, Villages and Cities celebrate differently. There are no rules! Some hold conservation talks or run poetry competitions, others organise swift walks, art competitions, write songs for swifts or arrange Welcome Home Parties. In each place, the celebrations reflect the imagination and local distinctiveness of the community.
All these projects are united in their shared affection for swifts, and are passionate about finding new ways to protect nest-sites and improve local habitats. What would you do in the village green or city park to show swifts how much we care? Isn’t it time to become a Swift Town? It’s a fun, imaginative way for a community to come together and celebrate their wild neighbours.
Bridport Swift Town
In the summer of 2024, the seaside town of Bridport, West Dorset, announced itself as a Swift Town and launched a programme of free community events. Curated and hosted by local residents and volunteers, these friendly gatherings invited residents of Bridport and surrounding villages to go ‘Swiftwalking’ with a local ornithologist, join the ‘Swift Town Poets’, listen to Swift Town Tales or enjoy Swift Dance and Swift Art workshops. These creative gatherings inspired people in the community to express what it meant to live in a town with swifts as neighbours, and become the perfect way to share stories and information about swifts. For the first time, a local swift group met regularly in Bridport and started planning the world’s first ever Big Swift Count – a simultaneous swift count that took place at 29 different sites around the town and nearby countryside on July 16th, attended by 68 volunteers. The event was called the Swift Pint Survey!
This combination of community creativity and data collection is the beginnings of an ongoing commitment to swifts in Bridport. Next year, the community are hoping to organise a Swift Welcome Party, to commission a beautiful Bridport Swift Map, and to write a Manifesto for Swifts that provides a ‘voice’ for Bridport – which means introducing more nest boxes where they’re needed, putting pressure on developers to include swift bricks in new builds, supporting a landscape recovery plan that enhances green spaces in the town and the feeding habitats in the nearby countryside around the River Brit.
Follow Bridport Swift Town.
