Swift Awareness Week
Swift Awareness Week runs from Saturday 28th June to Sunday 6th July. First held in 2018, the week encourages groups around the country to celebrate swifts, highlight their decline, and encourage people to act.
Although they do not nest at WWT Caerlaverock, we feel it is important to highlight Swift Awareness Week as swifts do fly through the reserve, and our wetlands are home to lots of invertebrates which make for good foraging grounds.
Swifts arrive in the UK from late April and breed across the UK before migrating back to Africa to spend the winter, often stopping in Europe to refuel on their 3,400-mile journey. Once in the UK, swifts return to their previous nesting site and are monogamous, mating in the same pairs for life. Fitting through small gaps, they nest in the roofs of houses, churches, and other buildings. However, as more buildings get renovated these gaps are being closed, leading to a rapid decline in sites suitable for nesting swifts. This is a factor in declining swift populations, which are now listed as Red under the UK Birds of Conservation Concern 5 (2021).
Though it is not all negative, and you can help. Attend a local Swift Awareness Week event (Swift Awareness Week 2025 Events, RSPB Swift Awareness Week), install a swift nest box and swift caller in your home, and record any sightings. The RSPB along with its partners have developed Swift Mapper - a web-based mapping system and mobile app. You can find more information on this here.
More information and useful sites:
RSPB Swift Awareness Week 2025
Words by Saoirse Murphy-Collot
Picture by Alex Hillier
