Community News
May 2021
The Swifts are coming... In recent years there has been a noticeable decline in wildlife in general, which can largely be attributed to loss of habitat. Hadleigh Environmental Action Team are keen to do what they can to help reverse this trend and their latest project sees 88 swift nesting boxes installed all over Hadleigh. Swifts traditionally nest in the eaves of older buildings that tend to have lots of nooks and crannies. However, modern building techniques are denying the swifts access. The British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) reported losses of around 45% of the UK population in just under 20 years (19942012). The swift is one of the most amazing birds to visit our town and we really don’t want to lose it. It arrives in our skies in early May and is one of the most graceful of birds, spending most of its life in flight. It feeds, drinks, mates and even sleeps on the wing, only coming to earth to nest and this is when we hope the new nest boxes will make a difference. The boxes have been put up on 25 properties across the town. So a huge thank you to all those who have offered to share their homes. Each site has 3 or 4 boxes, mounted close together and quite high, under the eaves. There is no guarantee that any of the boxes will be occupied, but each property has been equipped with a ‘swift call kit’, an electronic device which gives out a call to attract the swifts. Being very inquisitive, the swifts will fly low to investigate the calls and hopefully, those looking for nesting sites will spot the boxes. There are still ways to get involved with this project and HEAT are asking everyone to keep an eye out for swift activity, especially around the new boxes. Please post any photographs to ECO Hadleigh FB group. A less obvious way that you can help is by encouraging insect friendly planting in your gardens. Swifts eat flying insects such as aphids, flying ants, mosquitoes, hoverflies and small beetles. HEAT hopes to do much more in the areas of wildlife protection, conservation, sustainability and ecosystem management, if you would like to help us, then email hadleigh.heat@hotmail.com
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