10 Years of Swift Conservation in Trim
- Birdwatch Meath
- Jul 9
- 3 min read
In 2020 the Swift was added to a red-list of birds of conservation concern in Ireland due to a sharp reduction in breeding numbers. The main reason Swifts were given this red status was due largely to loss of nest sites.
As an insectivorous bird they are often under pressure in search of insect species throughout the year, relying on this food source to feed their chicks when here in Ireland and when wintering in Sub-Saharan Africa. They spend the entire time on the wing, only landing when they are back at their nest site. They therefore have a very different lifestyle to Swallows and Martins with which they are often confused. Swifts share some of the same features as Swallows and Martins as all are well adapted to catching insects in flight. However they are not part of the Swallow family and, unlike the Swallow family, are not a perching bird, so you won’t see a Swift perched atop an electricity wire like you would see a Swallow in the height of summer. Swifts have a more streamlined body and longer wings than Swallows, which is perfect for their almost permanent life on the wing. As their latin name, Apus Apus, suggests, they have short legs and feet more designed for gripping vertically onto a wall rather than perching.
Surveys by Birdwatch Ireland and Meath Co.Co show that two thirds of all breeding Swift in Meath are located in just three towns: Trim, Dunshaughlin and Navan. The majority of nests in Meath are in residential properties with about a third in other types of buildings. Swifts are extremely site-faithful, meaning they return to the exact same crevice or nest box every year to raise a single brood of two or three chicks with the same lifelong mate
New building techniques however have eliminated these gaps and crevices used by Swifts directly impacting potential nest sites for these birds.
An interesting finding has been that over a third of all Swift nests in Meath are located in houses with a "Jerkinhead roof” where the roof tiles allow sufficient space for the Swift to get underneath. This style of roof is found in a number of estates in Dunshaughlin, Navan and Trim.
While the uptake of purpose built nest-boxes has been slow, recently there has been more success where boxes were put up next to existing colonies. Swift bricks have also been incorporated into a small number of buildings, and these too are showing promising results.
Trim Tidy Towns together with Birdwatch Ireland have worked on Swift conservation since 2016. This work has helped to increase the local Swift population by 35%, with 59 nests found in a 2019 survey of Trim and 94 in a resurvey in 2024. Both surveys were commissioned by Meath County Council and funded by the National Parks and Wildlife Service to help build local knowledge and support conservation efforts.
The work done to raise awareness and support and grow the existing colonies of Swifts in Meath has helped to halt the sharp decline which is unfortunately the more common experience nationally.
All breeding Swifts remain vulnerable particularly as they depend on using buildings as nest sites, many of which are at risk from development. The Meath branch of Birdwatch Ireland are therefore keen to hear from people in towns where there are smaller populations of Swift and who would like to get involved in some local conservation work.
If anyone is interested to learn more about Swifts,the 2019 and 2024 survey reports are available on Meath County Council’s website:
And Meath branch of Birdwatch Ireland can be contacted by emailing birdwatchirelandmeath@gmail.com
All are welcome to join a walk in Trim on 11th July at 7:30pm, meet in Trim Castle car park, where you can hear about the successes in Trim and hopefully this locally vibrant population of Swifts will put on a fantastic aerial display.
Article by Terry Cassidy
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