Badge of Honour

[Helen Lucy]

Hi all, Sally Pereira from the Bradwell group in Derbyshire has come up with the idea of marking out houses with nesting swifts by giving them a "badge of honour”. It would be perhaps a ceramic piece with a simple image and a short statement such as “Swifts nest here”. The purpose would be to mark out swift nesting sites so that in the event of a house being sold, the new owners would be aware, as well as celebrating the fact that Swifts nest there. What do people think? And if the idea has legs, does anyone have ideas about how we could get them produced? I’m happy to provide artwork for them, but haven’t found a way of manufacturing them yet.
Helen Lucy

[Tony Croft]

Great idea...

Best Regards
Tony

On Mon, 13 Apr 2026, 08:48 Helen Lucy, <hmll...@gmail.com> wrote:

Hi all, Sally Pereira from the Bradwell group in Derbyshire has come up with the idea of marking out houses with nesting swifts by giving them a "badge of honour”.  It would be perhaps a ceramic piece with a simple image and a short statement such as “Swifts nest here”.  The purpose would be to mark out swift nesting sites so that in the event of a house being sold, the new owners would be aware, as well as celebrating the fact that Swifts nest there.  What do people think?  And if the idea has legs, does anyone have ideas about how we could get them produced?  I’m happy to provide artwork for them, but haven’t found a way of manufacturing them yet.
Helen Lucy

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[Machynlleth & District Swift Group]

Hi Lucy,

Sounds good. 'badge of Honour' or 'Swift Champion(s)' also perhaps?

Elfyn

On Mon, Apr 13, 2026 at 8:48 AM Helen Lucy <hmll...@gmail.com> wrote:

Hi all, Sally Pereira from the Bradwell group in Derbyshire has come up with the idea of marking out houses with nesting swifts by giving them a "badge of honour”.  It would be perhaps a ceramic piece with a simple image and a short statement such as “Swifts nest here”.  The purpose would be to mark out swift nesting sites so that in the event of a house being sold, the new owners would be aware, as well as celebrating the fact that Swifts nest there.  What do people think?  And if the idea has legs, does anyone have ideas about how we could get them produced?  I’m happy to provide artwork for them, but haven’t found a way of manufacturing them yet.
Helen Lucy

[steveklikr]

Great idea!

A ceramic plaque to attach to a wall?

Or a simple sticker to attach to a door- rather like the outline stickers that go on windows?

Steve Holroyd

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Email     : steve...@gmail.com

Inst &X  : @holroyd.steve

Website : klikr.co.uk

[Heidi Collishaw]

I love this idea, and it could be a very useful way of utilising Keeping up with the Jones's to encourage people to look after their swifts! 

 

I think the garden wildlife campaign offers a plaque for winners, so there's maybe some pre existing templates.

Regards

Heidi

On Mon, 13 Apr 2026, 08:48 Helen Lucy, <hmll...@gmail.com> wrote:

Hi all, Sally Pereira from the Bradwell group in Derbyshire has come up with the idea of marking out houses with nesting swifts by giving them a "badge of honour”.  It would be perhaps a ceramic piece with a simple image and a short statement such as “Swifts nest here”.  The purpose would be to mark out swift nesting sites so that in the event of a house being sold, the new owners would be aware, as well as celebrating the fact that Swifts nest there.  What do people think?  And if the idea has legs, does anyone have ideas about how we could get them produced?  I’m happy to provide artwork for them, but haven’t found a way of manufacturing them yet.
Helen Lucy

[Helen Lucy]

Hi Steve a ceramic plaque to attach to the wall. 

To view this discussion, visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/swiftslocalnetwork/69dca861.050a0220.c7b1f.0da8%40mx.google.com.

[Tony Croft]

I agree a proper ceramic plaque..like the ones for famous  people who lived in the house!

Best Regards
Tony

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[Sally Pereira]

The "Plaque of Honour" idea originally came from a member of our Bradwell Swift Group called Sally Newham. Everyone I have mentioned this idea to since has agreed it could play a vital role in helping to reduce the often accidental  loss of Swift nest sites. All too often when buildings change hands the nooks and crannies that provide Swift nesting sites get covered over/filled in. Last year in our small village we had 6 houses go up for sale that we knew had Swifts nesting in them, out of 31 buildings where we have identified that Swifts are present.  In consequence, if a local Swift Group does not exist, we can see how quickly nesting sites could be lost and potentially Swift numbers reduced, if no alternative nesting sites are found during the brief time they are with us each summer. 

If local Swift Groups around the UK  can identify the location of their local Swift nest sites, and then link with the current owners and raise awareness of their presence and how special Swifts are, but also that the Swifts need our help, that is a good starting point. If at the same time we can convince owners that they are the lucky ones, perhaps by giving them one of Helen Lucy's excellent Swift booklets and Helens' beautifully designed badge with the words on it "My Home is your Home", it is then only a small step to subsequently encouraging them to have a special Swift plaque that acknowledges this, and provides a lasting legacy to help permanently protect the nest site. 

If enough groups around the UK were willing to adopt this approach then this combined with other actions such as Swifts bricks in all new buildings, putting up nest boxes etc. may just help us reverse their rapid decline - between 1995 -2023 it is estimated the UK Swift Population declined by 68% (BTO figures).

Sally Pereira (Bradwell Swift Group) Derbyshire

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[Carol Collins]

There is a lovely pottery in Chepstow  (The Workshop Gallery) where they specialise in producing the blue plaques for buildings where famous folk have lived - website at: http://blue-plaques.org.uk/  The potter is Ned Heywood and his email address is: n...@nedheywood.com   I 'n sure he said that there are other potteries also producing blue plaques so there may be several around the country.  A section of the website is about other plaques etc., so I'm sure a swift plaque would be possible.

Carol.

Carol Collins

Hathersage.

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