Leeds Swifts April 2026 Newsletter
- 14 hours ago
- 14 min read
It's exciting to be writing this newsletter at the start of another Swift season, let's hope it's as good as the one we enjoyed last year.
Our Swifts are well and truly on their way back with large numbers recorded a few weeks ago flying northwards over the Pyrenees and reports of individuals increasingly being sighted now in the UK, the first ones being spotted as early as the 7 April in the south of the country. And in exciting news for us, Martin welcomed his first Swift back to our showcase Gledhow colony on 23 April. This is two days earlier than in any other year. Take a look at our Facebook page to find out more. We're definitely off to an early, and hopefully, a good start.
Now’s the perfect time to make sure you’re Swift ready! If you already have a nest box on your house then it’s worth double checking if you can that the box hasn’t been used by other birds that have left old nest material from last year which might dissuade Swifts from using the box this season. And if you have calling systems and nest cameras, then it’s a good idea to test them before you start to use them again. We recommend starting to play calls from early May (7 May is the usual date we recommend to start playing the calls again). There’s still time to install a Swift nest box too if you haven’t done so already. If you’re interested you can find all the information you need to make a home for Swifts on our website.
Swift Sanctuary – getting ready, steady for go
Linda is making the final preparations in the Swift Sanctuary to be ready for its first patient, converting her spare bedroom into a safe haven for injured and grounded birds. Fingers crossed that it won’t be needed too soon into the season but it’s always good to be ready in plenty of time.
We now have a new phone number for the Swift Sanctuary for emergencies only - 07942 919312 - which will help to manage our calls better.
It’s also good to report that we’re developing a timetable of volunteer helpers for Linda in the Sanctuary, especially during the first three weeks of July, which is her busiest time. Many thanks to those who have volunteered to help - this will be a huge help and enable Linda to concentrate on looking after the birds in her care rather than having to keep breaking off her work to answer the phone and deal with enquiries.
On the up – more Swift nest boxes get off the ground
Just as our Swifts have been busy over the winter getting migration ready while in Africa, we’ve been busy too getting ready to welcome them back. Martin has fitted 70 Swift nest boxes so far ahead of this year’s new season over the autumn and winter months. Many of these boxes have been fitted with call systems too. He’s got another 30+ to fit, hopefully by early/mid May in time for the start of Swift season in the hope of attracting new residents to the boxes. A further 26 boxes have also been supplied to houses to provide prospective new Swift homes.
By the middle of May when the nest box fitting will be mainly done, there will be around 130 new Swift homes in the Leeds area for prospective new parents. Come on you Swifts!
A big thank you to Martin and Heather Child and David Rowson and the team of nest box stainers for making all these boxes. It’s very much appreciated.
If you have a head for heights and would like to help Martin with his nest box installation programme, please do get in touch for a chat at Leeds.Swifts@gmail.com. Martin would really appreciate any help – and we could get more boxes fitted more swiftly!
Some of these new boxes have been fitted in local schools, which we’ll tell you about later in the newsletter. We’ve also fitted two boxes at St Gemma’s Hospice at Moortown, as you can see in the picture opposite.
One of the key things we’re hoping to achieve as part of our Swift conservation work is to support and expand existing Swift colonies in and around the city. Fitting more nest boxes in streets and terraces where we know there are Swift colonies is a vital part of this work to try and encourage more pairs of Swifts to nest in the area. This is part of what we’ve been doing in our first designated Swift Conservation Area which we’re excited to tell you about in our next newsletter (due out in June).
Swift bricks update – good news on the horizon .........
It was really good to hear in January that the Scottish Government became the first in the UK to introduce a legal requirement that should see Swift nesting bricks included in new buildings. This formed part of the Natural Environment Bill and consultation will now take place on the measures that will require Swift bricks to be included before this can finally come into force. This is really positive news and sets an important precedent for other UK governments to hopefully follow this lead.
In England, hopes that an amendment to the Planning and Infrastructure Bill to implement Swift bricks as a legal requirement were dashed when the House of Lords voted against it. The Welsh Senedd also rejected a similar petition. However, we continue to keep the faith and keep lobbying our local MPs and councillors to make these important changes in our city and supporting national efforts to try to make this happen.
However, there is some good news for Swifts.
The National Planning Policy Framework will ensure that Swift bricks are included. The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) opened a consultation on a revised National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) and planning reforms, which ran from 16 December 2025 to 10 March 2026. Draft policy N2 1(f) will require development proposals to:
“Minimise impacts on biodiversity and include features for species which support priority or threatened species such as Swifts, Bats and Hedgehogs. Development proposals should incorporate integrated nest boxes (commonly known as Swift bricks) into their construction unless there are compelling technical reasons which prevent their use, or would make them ineffective.”
The NFPP is the core set of planning policies for England, guiding local authorities and decision-makers on housing, the economy and the environment. The framework strongly favours sustainable development although the latest reforms prioritise increased housing supply and associated targets whilst removing key environmental protections relating to protected areas and local environmental mitigation.
Although it’s good news for Swifts, the places we value for wildlife and visit are now at greater risk. The policy is a key material consideration for all planning applications and sits above all local development plans. The publication of the revised NPPF is imminent and the Swift brick provision will most likely be retained. Watch this space.
Calling Swift friendly builders, developers, architects and scaffolders ....
If you’re a builder, developer, architect or scaffolder and in the business of helping our Swifts as part of your work, we’d love to hear from you!
We’re looking to showcase businesses on our website which are able to show how easy and cost effective it is to carry out their work whilst also protecting existing Swift nest sites or installing Swift bricks. So if you, or someone you know, fits this bill, then we’d love to hear from you. Training can also be arranged if you are interested in learning more about how to effectively incorporate Swift conservation into your work too.
Please get in touch at Leeds.Swifts@gmail.com. Thank you!
There’s lots of other ways to get involved too – why not volunteer this summer to help us, no matter how much or how little time you can spare, every bit helps!
Find out more on our website here.
Swift decline – is it lack of nest sites or insects?
There was a great article on Swifts in The Guardian recently which is worth a read if you’ve not already seen it. It sparked an interesting debate in ‘Swift World’ regarding how big a role insect availability plays in accounting for the dramatic decline of Swift numbers. Our view is that while insect availability is very important in order to ensure the birds have an adequate supply of food, especially for breeding birds, the lack of suitable nesting sites is the main factor in their decline. This is a view backed by other Local Swift Networks.
Recent scientific research carried out by Dr Christopher Hassal at Leeds University’s School of Biology also backed up this view, which shows that the number of insects in urban areas is actually increasing. We know that Swifts in our city can find enough food for their chicks so long as we don’t have cold, wet and windy weather during the summer months which we know impacts greatly on their breeding success.
Nest availability makes a very significant difference in local areas. Swifts are rarely seen in urban areas which have no nest sites, no matter how green friendly they are. When existing colonies are lost due to their nest sites being destroyed, there’s a noticeable decline in local numbers observed, often with no birds being sighted in that area. Swifts can and do fly a hundred miles a day to find insects, which means that local variation in insect supply is less important than a lack of nest sites.
It’s good to have these debates so more people can become aware of the serious issues facing our endangered Swifts and also to help drive and shape activity to help address this important issue.
The ‘other’ Taylor Swift
Justin Anderson’s wonderful Swift sanctuary film called The 'other' Taylor Swift has just been released and we hope you like watching it (click on the link above and use the password swiftsanctuary123 to watch it).
Justin is a renowned wildlife cameraman, having worked with David Attenborough on TV programmes such as the Planet Earth series. He shot the film last year focussing on the work of our friend and colleague, Louise Bentley at Bolton and Bury Swifts. It also includes some of own Leeds Swifts footage – look out for our Linda at the end of the film along with other Swift rehabbers.
Chris Packham described it as “One from the heart, a song of love and dedication so beautifully told.”
10th anniversary celebrations
Many of you will know, we are celebrating our 10th anniversary this year – where does time go?
We marked the occasion back in January with a celebratory social for our helpers and supporters at Further North in Chapel Allerton. It was great to see so many of you, thank you to everyone who came to help make it a really special evening to spend with our fellow Swift lovers.
Securing our legacy – Leeds Swifts explore charity status
Can you help?
We’re so proud of what we’ve all been able to achieve over our ten years as a group of volunteers and are looking forward to how we can build on this and develop our work further.
One option is to become a registered charity or a community interest company. This is an exciting step we’ve been discussing for a while and are very interested in taking forward. A major benefit of doing this would be to open up access to better funding opportunities which we could put to great use to further develop our community conservation work.
However, to do this effectively we ideally need someone with accounting / finance experience to join our team of volunteers as our treasurer. This would not require a big commitment in terms of time but it is an important area of expertise in which we would like to have support to enable us to take this forward.
If you are that person – or know someone who might be interested – and would like to find out more, please contact Linda or Martin for a chat at Leeds.Swifts@gmail.com.
Swift Homecoming Parade : Sunday 10 May, 2pm
Helen Lucy has been very busy organising our second Swift Homecoming Parade which will take place on Sunday 10 May at 2pm starting from Crossgates Community Centre.
This is a community led event which is free for anyone to attend and has been kindly funded by Persimmon Community Projects.
It builds on the success of Helen’s first Homecoming Parade which took place in Crossgates in 2024 and is a great way to get local residents involved in and aware of Swifts. It's hoped that as many people as possible will get involved, show their support and come out on the day to help welcome our Swifts back to the city.
Says Helen: “It’s a really fun day out for all the family. We’ve got some great entertainment lined up, including Bare Brass Band and Dave, our famous unicycling Swift! I’m so pleased we are able to run this Parade again, which is the only one of its kind in Leeds. It’s a great way to get our local community together and for people to join forces to champion Swifts.”
To help get ready for the Parade, Helen has been organising giant Swift model-making sessions/workshops. These are fun events, open to anyone and are free to attend on Saturday mornings from 9.30am-11am.
Local schools get top marks for Swifts!
At Meadowfield Primary School in Halton recently, the youngsters were lucky to have a visit from a giant Swift at one of their assemblies, where our Helen Lucy had been invited to give a talk about Swift conservation.
The school has bought three nest boxes fitted with cameras and callers. Let’s hope they are lucky enough to get Swifts nesting there this season. If they do, they plan to live stream and show highlights in assembly.
We know there are Swifts nesting nearby (screaming parties have been seen) so we’re keeping fingers crossed they will notice these new nesting opportunities!
Elsewhere Martin has been busy fitting nest boxes at Queenswood Education Centre in Kirkstall where the youngsters, led by staff member Dan Greenwood, have made their own boxes which have been put up in two locations around the school. We provided a solar call player for some of their boxes and a regular call system elsewhere.
Boxes have also been installed at Horsforth School and Sixth Form College. The students, led by staff member and Leeds Swifts supporter, Charlene Thomas, made their nest boxes and have been put up within sight of an existing Swift colony.
Swift Streets
One of our key aims is to help expand and support existing Swift colonies. So with this in mind, we’ve been focussing attention on establishing Swift Streets in areas where we know there are already nesting Swifts.
Morritt Avenue in Crossgates is one such Swift Street, where we’re about to have 22 nest boxes and call systems fitted. As many of you will know, we’ve been doing a lot of Swift conservation work with the local community in Crossgates, led by Helen Lucy. We’ve been lucky to secure funding for these additional nest boxes from the RSPB Leeds Local Group, which is fantastic and which also means that BT Openreach will fit the boxes as part of this funding initiative.
Elsewhere, Martin and Alex are due to fit 12 nest boxes with a couple of call systems at Clipston Avenue in Meanwood. These boxes have kindly been legacy funded by one of our past Leeds Swifts supporters.
And we have two fledgling Swift Streets due to take flight on Allerton Grange Drive in Moortown and Rochester Terrace in Headingley.
We’re asking the residents of all those houses which have had boxes fitted to monitor Swift activity closely over the summer. This is to see if we get take up of the boxes by Swifts and also to watch for Swifts in their area so we can monitor how the local colonies are faring. We’ll be looking for evidence of any screaming parties of Swifts or for last years’ young Swifts prospecting for nest sites this year. These young, non breeding birds are called bangers as they fly against, knock on, or brush their wings against potential nesting holes, eaves, or nest boxes for next year.
Meanwhile, one of our keen Leeds Swifts supporters in Chapel Allerton not only asked Martin to fit two more Swift nest boxes to their house but also went a step further by having their garage door painted with Swifts (not by Martin!) as you can see from the picture on the right.
We hope those local Swifts appreciate these efforts to give them a friendly welcome home!
Swift Awareness Week (27 June-5 July):
Good news - we’re running our popular Swift Watches again this year!
These events are a great way to spend an evening watching the Swifts which live in our showcase Gledhow colony as they fly in and out of their nest boxes and, if the weather allows, watch the spectacular aerial displays of Swift screaming parties as they fly past at death defying speeds. There’s also the chance to see inside their nest boxes from the cameras that Martin has set up in each box.
We’re keeping our fingers crossed that, in a first for us this year, we will be able to run a live feed on our website from one of our Gledhow colony nest boxes. Martin and Paul are hoping to do a trial run shortly – watch this space (and keep fingers crossed!).
Please chose from the following dates (7.30pm until dark each evening):
Monday 29 June
Tuesday 30 June
Wednesday 1 July
Thursday 2 July
Monday 6 July
Tuesday 7 July
Wednesday 8 July
Thursday 9 July
Please book asap via leeds.swifts@gmail.com as numbers are limited to eight people at each event. All sessions are free but we do ask for a Pay As Feel donation to Leeds Swifts on the night or via our GoFundMe page.
Vital lifeline – fund-raising for our Swift Sanctuary:
A big thank you to everyone who has donated funds in the past to help keep our Swift Sanctuary open and to support our wider Swift conservation work. We really could not do what we do without your amazing and much appreciated support.
Each year we rehabilitate grounded Swifts, Swallows and House Martins and return them to the wild. These birds would not survive without our care. Rehabbing is very rewarding but the reality is that it is also time-consuming and expensive. It costs us around £1,000 each year to run the Swift Sanctuary.
Last year was a record for us in terms of the numbers of injured or grounded birds that needed care in our Sanctuary - 121 birds (81 Swifts, 17 Swallows and 23 House Martins) came through our doors last season. 96 of these birds were flown successfully.
We appreciate every donation, no matter how big or small, it really does help us.
Donating is very easy to do via our GoFundMe page. We’re hoping to raise £2,000 again this year to help ensure we can keep our Swift Sanctuary open. Last year we were able to meet this target, so we’re hoping we can do that again this year with your help. Thank you to everyone who make a donation, it’s very much appreciated.
Don't forget that you can also sign up to Easyfundraising.com to turn your online purchases into cash for us, just by shopping normally, at no extra cost to you. There's over 7,000 online retailers participating in this scheme including big brands such as Just Eat, Boots, Booking.com, Morrisons, Amazon, Ebay, M&S, John Lewis etc. All you have to do is sign up, choose us as your charity and start shopping via the Easyfundraising website. The retailer you shop with will send us a free donation based on how much you spend.
Emergency funds for Fire Service
In January Leeds Swifts was one of the lucky beneficiaries of the funds raised as part of the annual Michael Clegg Memorial Bird Race. A big thank you to everyone who donated.
£2,723 was raised in total which was split between 50/50 with Sheffield Swift Network. We are using these funds to support our Fireman Alex in his efforts to expand his successful Swift nest box installation project to other fire stations around the area. We’ll keep you posted.
Leeds Swifts on Tour : what’s coming up
We’ve been out and about spreading the word about Swift conservation over the autumn and winter months, visiting local wildlife groups, schools and Women’s Institutes.
Here’s what’s happening in the coming weeks and months. Please do come and say hello if you’re in the area.
Swift Homecoming Parade: 10 May, 2pm
Crossgates Community Centre
Mayfield Avenue LS15 7TU
World Swift Day: 7 June
A Year in the Life of a Swift: 12 June
East Keswick Wildlife Trust
Swift Awareness Week: 27 June - 5 July
(See earlier article for details of our
annual Swift Watch events)
Gledhow Valley Green Fair: 12 July, 11am-4pm
A Year in the Life of a Swift: 2 December
Sherriff Hutton Nature Group
Please let us know if you have any events happening around you that we might take part in, at any time of the year, either with a stall or to give a talk. Contact us at leeds.swifts@gmail.com
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