SAW: South Cambs. Swift Corridor Meeting Report
Peter Tiffin
A meeting of swift conservation groups was held in Bassingbourn, South Cambridge, on Saturday 27th June as one of more than 100 events held during Swift Awareness Week. The theme was “From Community Projects to County Corridors” with the aim of establishing a “South Cambs. Swift Corridor”. The idea is to encourage active swift groups to promote and support swift conservation in neighbouring villages, with the ultimate goal of ensuring that every town and village has a conservation programme.
The meeting was attended by representatives from Bassingbourn, Whaddon, Litlington, Great Eversden, Landbeach, Duxford, Shelford, Stapleford, Sawston, Linton, Fulbourn, Hemingford Grey, Godmanchester, Ely, Royston and Kelshall. Thus, the reach extended beyond South Cambridgeshire.
Peter Tiffin opened the meeting with an introduction to the idea of a “South Cambs. Swift Corridor” and provided update on the Bassingbourn project. A key takeaway was how swifts can be used as “flagship species” to promote wider nature recovery plans. Over 100 swift boxes have been installed on houses and community buildings. Peter also explained that village schemes are a great way to encourage community engagement. The project has been funded by the Parish Council.
Paul Evans gave an update on the Whaddon project which started this year and has already seen the installation of 28 boxes. This group has made some of their own boxes and some swift callers which are helpful to attract swifts to new nesting sites. Funding has been requested from the Parish Council to install a further 15 boxes and make more callers. Paul also noted that this project has provided positive community engagement.
The CamSwift team (Helen Harwood, Jo Sinclair and Catherine Merrick) covers Shelfords, Stapleford and Sawston. This group is lucky enough to also have house martins. Helen and Jo gave some updates on the conservation efforts for house martins. Catherine presented an update on swift box installation in Sawston. Funding was received from the respective Parish Councils and 60 new boxes and martin nest cups have been installed.
Rebecca Neal from Team Wilder at the Wildlife Trust BCN talked about how the Trust can help community groups. This includes running a wildlife gardening award scheme and a Churchyard Conservation Award scheme. Rebecca also explained how they are tackling Nature Recovery at large scale at reserves such as Strawberry Hill and Trumpington Meadows. These address Action#3 of the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough LNRS to “Create insect-rich habitats near nesting sites, as well as at larger landscape-scale.”
The talks were concluded by Ian Walters from Duxford who presented on Swifts as part of a bigger picture of Nature Recovery. The Duxford team kicked off their swift nest box project this year with the installation of 19 nest boxes.
A short Q&A session followed with Dick Newell from Action for Swifts. The group was able to share experiences around nest box installation and now has access to 3 reliable installers. A final note was for the groups to update Swifmapper to reflect the ongoing efforts.
Our goal is to get boxes up in other villages across South Cambridgeshire ready for the 2027 season.