Lancaster City Council is taking further action to support the local Lancaster Swift City project initiated by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds and others in our community to develop awareness and measures that help mitigate the decline in the swift population.
Swifts are incredible birds, and one of nature’s greatest long-distance athletes. Each year they undertake a crazy journey to get here, one of the longest migration journeys in the world. Swifts fly around 22,000 km (or 14,000 miles) every year.
In recent years, fewer swifts have returned from Africa to breed, and the UK population has declined by more than 70 percent in the last three decades. A major factor in this dramatic decrease is almost certainly due to the loss of insect prey and of traditional nesting sites in older buildings. Swifts return to the same nest site each year and so when older buildings are renovated they can find themselves shut out of their homes, or even find that they have been demolished completely. Without access to nooks and crannies in buildings, swifts have nowhere to raise their young.
The city council’s support for Lancaster Swift City is the result of a cross-party proposal to develop awareness and measures that help mitigate the decline in the swift population. Green councillor Sue Tyldesley’s proposal at a recent meeting was seconded by Labour Councillor Louis Belcher and supported by a recent unanimous vote in full council.
The agreement supports the work of Lancaster Swift City, a community-led initiative, which includes the local RSPB and local residents, to protect the species and also builds on work undertaken by the city council since 2021 to boost wild insect populations and improve biodiversity.
Alasdair McKee from the RSPB attended the council meeting to speak about swifts and in support of the motion.
The RSPB Local Group and Lancaster Swift City have been championing Swifts for several years now in the Lancaster area. This work to help raise awareness of this tiny bird has grown further recently.
Lancaster was declared a ‘Swift City’, one of just four in the UK, in 2024. A ‘Swift Charter’ has been signed by residents, local politicians and community and conservation organisations highlighting the city’s pledge to protect the future of the birds.
In 2025 Lancaster Swift City was successful in securing a grant from Closing Loops. This funding is helping tell more people about the plight of the Swift and how, here in Lancaster and north Lancashire, we can help them.
Fifteen handmade nest boxes, crafted by the Lancaster Men’s Hub, and assembled by volunteers in the community have been installed at Morecambe Town Hall and on the rear of CityLab in Lancaster. They are accompanied by “swift callers” – devices that broadcast the birds’ distinctive cries in a bid to draw them in.
Residents are also being urged to play their part by recording known nesting sites with the Lancashire Environmental Records Centre.