| The Threats |
|
|
This young swift was found dead
in roof space
after scaffolding prevented the parents from getting to the nest.
Its loss was entirely preventable. |
| Threats to nest sites may
be temporary or permanent.
|
They
fall into four basis groups :
|
|
| BLOCKING ACCESS TO THE NEST SITE
(temporary or permanent) |
| KNOCKING DOWN THE BUILDING (permanent) |
| RENOVATING OR REPAIRING THE BUILDING
(permanent) |
| NEW BUILDINGS WITH NO SUITABLE VOIDS
(long-term) |
| LOSS
OF LOCAL FEEDING SITES (permanent) |
| Temporary
Threats |
| |
Usually take the form
of scaffolding or disturbance during the nesting season. |
| |
Whereas swifts can negotiate
open scaffolding if it is constructed with them in mind, netting
prevents all access. It is not clear whether swifts will return
to a site if they have been denied access for a season. |
| Permanent
Threats |
| |
Range from the complete
destruction of the building where they nested to minor repair
work like repointing stonework or repairing loose tiles. |
| |
Although complete
destruction is usually non-negotiable, demolition can
at least be timed to avoid loss of active nest sites. The
swift species action plan requires that demolition
should not take place between May and August where swifts
are known to be or suspected to be nesting. |
| Most
of the other Threats |
| |
Most
of the other threats can be either designed out altogether
or mitigated by replacing lost nest sites as close as possible
to those lost.
The scale of the threat in any one instance varies depending
on whether the buildings are in public, corporate or private
ownership. Huge areas of redevelopment pose a greater single
threat, but are easier to identify and to mitigate by dealing
with one or two key people. Piecemeal repair and development
by individual house-owners offer a less serious immediate
threat, but may be harder identify and mitigate unless the
owner is sympathetic. |
| |
|
| Temporary Threat |
| Scaffolding & Works to Buildings |
|
|
|
Roebank street, Glasgow scaffolding caused the loss of three active nests.
|
Stanley Mills, Perthshire. Swifts were seen swirling around one of the gables and along the river face of the building.
|
| Temporary Threat |
|
|
|
|
Close-up of scaffolding with mesh screens.
|
|
| Permanent Threat |
| Demolition |
|
|
|
These 1950's flats had swifts in the roofs & eaves, and were demolished in 2000.
|
Church in Dennistun, which had swifts and bats.
|
| Permanent Threat |
| Conversions |
|
|
|
Old distillery buildings at Linlithgow being restored to create flats.
|
|
| Permanent Threat |
| Repointing |
|
|
|
Repointing destroyed the one or two nest sites in this old church Glenmavis.
|
Example of the type of rigorous repointing
on a Dundee tenement building.
|
| Permanent Threat |
| Roof Repairs & Replacement of Traditional Pantiles with Flat Tiles |
|
|
|
These tiles used in Amsterdam replace the older ones.
|
The massive scale of local authority reroofing programmes means that whole areas are done at one time.
|
| Permanent Threat |
| Plastic Gable End Capping |
|
|
|
Gallowgate B gable end cladding.
|
|
| Permanent Threat |
| Soffit Cladding or Boxing in Ladder Soffits |
|
|
|
Typical soffit cladding.
|
Ladder soffits boxed in at Motherwell.
|
| Permanent Threat |
| New Faschia or Flashings at Eaves Level |
|
|
|
New faschia boards cover access to nest sites – traditional tenements.
|
New PVC faschia on private house. NB This faschia covers a concrete plinth so there is no internal cavity here.
|
| Permanent Threat |
|
|
|
|
New flashing covers access holes in the top course of stonework.
|
|
| Permanent Threat |
| New Building Materials & Styles |
|
|
|
Metal cladding does not readily lend itself to swifts nest sites.
|
Reinforced concrete will not produce cavities for a long time to come.
|
| Permanent Threat |
| Mesh Grids Behind Church Tower Louvres or New Louvres |
|
|
|
|
|
| Permanent Threat |
| Loss of Local Feeding Areas |
|
|
|
An area of mainly willow cleared by Railtrack in the middle of June. A favourite feeding area for swifts for the past 20 years.
|
Extensive housing estates adjacent to swift colonies remove local feeding
|
|
