Swift to
decline, slow to recover: A conservation charity is seeking good homes for the
threatened birds as their nest sites vanish
GEORGE
MAIR Published: 06:00 Friday 15 February 2019
A
conservation charity has appealed for Scots homeowners and businesses to help
save the nation’s fastest flying bird, the swift, by providing thousands of new
homes for them.
The
iconic summer visitors used to be seen in large numbers swooping across the
rooftops in Scotland’s urban areas. Nicknamed devil birds because of their
distinctive screams, swifts can reach speeds of up to 70 miles per hour in
flight. But the bird is also one of Scotland’s fastest declining, with the
population crashing by 59 per cent since 1995.
Now, as
swifts prepare to make their epic 6,000 mile journey back to Scotland to bring
up their chicks in the coming months, RSPB Scotland says some birds hoping to
lay their eggs here will be thwarted because their former homes under the eaves
are gone, as are the spaces once left for them. The charity yesterday appealed
to people in towns and cities to help the species by providing as many new
homes for them as possible.
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