This year, S6 Swifts joined forces with other Sheffield swift groups to form the Sheffield Swift Network. We have been extremely busy as a result, working with a broader Sheffield team to champion swifts on several fronts. We’re still working to save swifts on a local level, but if you’re interested in the work of SSN, you can visit the website here.

We’re very humbled to be the subject of a short film made about us by the SRWT. You can view it here.

S6 Swifts’ recent fitting of swift boxes at Malin Bridge School led to alot of media interest. On Friday we were featured in the lunchtime and evening bulletins of BBC Look North, together with Ian from the Sheffield & Rotherham Wildlife Trust and some very enthusiastic pupils! Thank you Look North for such a lovely article. I would post the link to iPlayer but it’s expired!

We were also featured in the Guardian on the same day in a fantastic article here. The real focus is on the amazing Chet from S17 Dore & Totley Swifts. Definitely worth a read!

After today’s fittings we have managed to top 260 new nest spaces and it’s all thanks to each and every one of you that have taken part in our 9 month long nest box scheme that was only supposed to run for a couple of weeks.

We are keeping everything crossed that swifts will adopt the homes you are offering. These things take time but it’s just great that we’re all giving them a helping hand right now when they really need it.

Additional, encouraging insects in your gardens with insect friendly plants, and refraining from using weedkillers will all help boost food sources for these birds, and there’s plenty of information out there on how you can do that.

In the meantime, I’ve being doing the map again! Again – please think about plotting your box on the swift mapper if you have a moment, and also, please don’t hesitate to plot resident swifts in general. We’re looking to record existing swift colonies more formally so that we can boost initiatives to protect them – so watch this space!