Honiton: 60 swift nesting boxes to be installed at The Beehive and Catholic Church

60 boxes for swifts to nest in are to be installed in Honiton this month after months of behind-the-scenes efforts. 

The Honiton Community Action Group is a volunteer-run organisation which aims to look after and protect local wildlife and natural habitats in the local area.  It is run by Miriam Thomas, who is also the founder of the Repair Café.

The swift boxes will be installed at The Beehive, the Catholic Church and St. Rita's Centre.

Swifts spend the summer months in Europe and the rest of the time in Africa, migrating up to 4,000 miles twice a year. The birds pair for life and always return to the same nesting spots to incubate their eggs and raise chicks.

Swifts like to nest inside churches and houses inside or underneath the roof but, as more buildings are renovated or taken down altogether, the birds are losing their nesting sites. They are currently on the UK conservation Red List as a result of their nesting sites disappearing. 

Honiton's new nesting boxes will be installed over the next 4 - 6 weeks so that the birds which are currently in the area can see them before they return to Africa later in the summer or autumn.

Some of the boxes will be 'caller boxes'. These are nesting boxes with a speaker system installed which plays a recording of the sounds and calls that swifts make when using safe nesting spots, encouraging other swifts to use them too. 

Miriam Thomas is the founder of the Honiton Community Action Group. She told Nub News: "It is absolutely fantastic that The Beehive and the Catholic Church have consented to the boxes going up. 

"This is the result of months behind the scenes negotiations, surveys and detailed plans being submitted.

"Next year new swift colonies will take up residence in the boxes so they can continue to raise the next generation of these iconic summer visitors." 

The Community Action Group are looking for volunteers who can spare a few hours to help protect Honiton's green spaces and increase biodiversity. If you would like to get involved in monitoring the swift boxes, tree planting, fundraising, making Honiton a hedgehog friendly town or helping at events, please contact Miriam.

The swift boxes are £12 each and can be adopted or sponsored by an individual, family or organisation. If you'd like to do this you can contact Miriam on [email protected] or through the website.