Swifts and Us by Sarah Gibson

Author:Sarah Gibson [Gibson, Sarah]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Published: 2021-03-03T17:00:00+00:00

16

SCOTLAND’S SWIFTS

The decline of swifts in Scotland over the last twenty years has been particularly acute. Clare Darlaston of Concern for Swifts (Scotland) witnessed the change:

Ten years ago I used to walk through streets in parts of Glasgow in summer and see and hear screaming parties displaying around the buildings until nearly dark-time, after 11pm in June. It was never as exciting as, for example, Castle Douglas, where the buildings are lower and the swifts [sometimes] scream down the street at knee level, but it was the ever-present sound of their calls on fine summer evenings that alerted me to their presence and their thrilling chases around the buildings. Now I wish I had paid more attention to recording numbers, as year on year they have become fewer, even in areas not badly affected by renovation.

Her perception is shared by Roy Dennis, pioneer of osprey reintroduction schemes, who has lived and worked in the Highlands of Scotland for sixty years. Roy had a distinguished career at the RSPB, after which he set up his own wildlife foundation, which gives him the freedom to concentrate on species recovery projects and the restoration of natural ecosystems. He too has witnessed the decline of swifts and talks wistfully of the days when you could watch hundreds of them flying around Forres Castle, close to his home in Moray. ‘Today, you are lucky if you see ten. A big change came in the 1980s and 90s, when farmers began to spray their crops intensively – that’s when the numbers started to decrease. Fifty per cent of land should be left to nature; every farm should have wildflowers,’ he says, speaking with passion.

Academic studies demonstrate that the abundance of insects in Scotland has dramatically diminished. Research carried out by the University of Stirling in 2002 showed an average decline of 49 per cent in the fifteen major groups of the swifts’ prey between 1983 and 1997.

Daniele Muir worked as a ranger with Perthshire Council for fifteen years, with special responsibility for swift conservation. When I ask her why she thinks the decline has been particularly severe in Scotland, she suggests that it may simply have been the case that change came later and faster than in England, causing a more sudden downturn in numbers. ‘Building renovation, new developments and dwindling insect populations – the same negative factors are present here as everywhere else,’ she says.

During her time at Perthshire Council she helped set up many nest box schemes on schools, churches and houses. She grew downhearted at the inadequacies of the planning system in supporting the integration of nest bricks into new buildings. Housing development is booming in Scotland but very few new buildings have swift bricks, despite the recommendations of the RSPB and often the various councils’ own biodiversity officers. Even when such recommendations are included in planning conditions, they are seldom implemented.

She now runs her own business, leading wildlife walks in the Perthshire hills and kayaking along the River Tay to show people beavers.

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