Love the Broads helps to boost swift numbers
A Love the Broads grant has hopefully helped reverse the rapid decline in the number of swifts with the first special nesting tower for the vulnerable species to be built in the Broads.
The number of breeding swifts in the UK has almost halved between 1995 and 2015, placing the bird on the amber list of Birds of Conservation Concern.
Conservation organisations believe that this steep decline is partly due to popular nesting sites in buildings being lost during renovations, as well as a halving in the number of insects – the staple food of the swift – since 1975.
To help the swifts, the Broads Authority, supported by the visitor giving scheme, Love the Broads, has built a tower with 20 nest chambers at Whitlingham Country Park.