Re: [SLN] Digest for swiftslocalnetwork@googlegroups.com - 4 updates in 2 topics

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Edward Mayer

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Oct 12, 2026, 3:34:25 AM (10 days ago) Oct 12
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Bent coat hanger??????????????????????

On 12-Oct-26 7:58 AM, swiftsloc...@googlegroups.com wrote:
michael_priaulx <michael...@yahoo.com>: Oct 11 10:26AM

Hi Elfyn,




I think a portable vacuum cleaner is the only way to effectively clean
out nest bricks? (Except for the few Schwegler/ Woodstone models where the
front comes off.)




Ideally rescuing any spiders etc. afterwards that you might suck up.




I haven't tried it myself though... Good luck!




Mike

Islington and Hackney Swifts Groups




+++




Cleaning out 'Swift Bricks'

Machynlleth & District Swift Group <machs...@gmail.com>: Oct 10 03:04PM
+0100




Hi all,



I have been asked advice by someone on how to clean out swift bricks. I

imagine that once they are in place not many people bother to clean them

out. Anyway someone on here might have come up with a simple way to
access

the swift brick to clean them put especially if they have been used by

house sparrows. Obviously I'm aware if swifts use them then is no need to
 

clean them out.



Thanks



Elfyn Pugh

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alofanglia <alis...@alofanglia.plus.com>: Oct 11 10:12PM +0100

If you can get to bricks and wanted to clean them out I'd probably improvise a coat hanger to make a hook and drag material to the entrance and then using fingers pull material out.
 
I'd only do it if there was plastic material obvious. Jerry of Dawlish had swifts go into a box near the end of the season and kick the material out that the sparrows had filled the box with so expect they'd do the same with a brick…
 
There are also flexible tool claws which could work such as these, https://www.sealey.co.uk/premier-flexible-claw-pick-up-tool-610mm-ak653/#mz-expanded-view-686508327502
 
In our church boxes most material breaks down over the winter apart from plastic…
 
Cheers
 
Alistair
 
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On 10 Oct 2026, at 15:11, Machynlleth & District Swift Group <machs...@gmail.com> wrote:
 

 
Hi all,
 
I have been asked advice by someone on how to clean out swift bricks. I imagine that once they are in place not many people bother to clean them out. Anyway someone on here might have come up with a simple way to access the swift brick to clean them put especially if they have been used by house sparrows. Obviously I'm aware if swifts use them then is no need to clean them out.
 
Thanks
 
Elfyn Pugh
 
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Machynlleth & District Swift Group <machs...@gmail.com>: Oct 12 03:19AM +0100

Hi Alistair,
 
Thanks. Good advice.
 
Elfyn
 
On Sun, 11 Oct 2026 at 22:12, alofanglia <alis...@alofanglia.plus.com>
wrote:
 
Rowena Quantrill <rowena.q...@btinternet.com>: Oct 11 11:03AM +0100

Thank you for sending the useful paper on insect declines. I guess what
we need to recognise is that there will almost always be more than one
reason for declining numbers in a bird species. Here in Bradford on Avon
we have put up lots of nest boxes but only two have been used by Swifts,
almost certainly because with all our old roofs there are plenty of
'natural' places for them to choose. However, this year, while there
were large screaming parties, it looks like the number of nesting birds
has declined. Some sites, under roof tiles etc, have not been altered in
any way but were not used this year. So we are looking for reasons and I
guess decline in insects, heat and problems on migration could all be
among them. We continue to put up nest boxes when people ask for them
but also look at other things such as encouraging the planting of
pollinating plants and, of course, checking on housing renovations to be
sure they are not blocking existing nesting spaces.
Rowena
Bradford on Avon Swift and House Martin group
 
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Edward Mayer

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Oct 12, 2026, 3:46:55 AM (10 days ago) Oct 12
to swiftsloc...@googlegroups.com

My guess is that increasing industrialisation of agriculture in Africa with an increasing use of insecticides is doing to their wildlife, and "our" migrant birds there, exactly what it has done to ours. The Natural History Museum has recorded a 60% drop in UK flying insects in 20 years, while the BTO has identified a 66% drop in UK Swift numbers from 1995 to 2022. Horribly similar. Somebody ought to go out to Africa (the BTO?) and do the same surveys there, otherwise we will never know. But the main Italian oil company is now "harvesting" the Congo to produce bio-fuels, and that is where our Swifts, Cuckoos and I think also Flycatchers spend the winter, and they are all in sad decline. If you have the time to spare have a read of this website  to see the changes being effected in African agriculture as the multi-nationals and sovereign wealth funds move in: 

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