Lewes - a Swift-friendly town!
Lewes Swift Supporters believe that celebrating Swifts and spreading the word about these marvellous birds to residents and visitors is the key to helping them to flourish and to keep them returning to Lewes every summer.
Swifts can be seen as an indicator of good biodiversity - where there is a rich mosaic of biodiverse habitats, there will be Swifts too!
We can all become biodiversity champions!
Swifts live in the air and feed on insects and airborne invertebrates such as aphids and spiderlings. Did you know that the parent birds need to find about 20,000 insects a day to feed themselves and their chicks? However, the "Bugs Matter" survey led by Kent Wildlife Trust and Buglife suggests that numbers of insects have fallen by 78% since 2004. This diminishing food supply adds to the other challenges faced by Swifts such as loss of nest spaces and extreme weather conditions caused by climate change. RSPB estimates that Swift numbers have declined by 58% since 1995.
We can all do something to help Swifts, however small the action.
A Swift-friendly town will not only help Swifts - it will help other wildife too!
Who already helps to make Lewes a Swift-friendly town?
We are very grateful for grants from Sussex Ornithological Society, Sussex Police, Friends of Lewes, Lewes Nature Mosaic, Ouse Valley Climate Action, and Chalk Cliff Trust which have allowed us to fund the installation of Swift nest boxes. Thank you to all the residents who have made a donation and supported us by choosing us as their good cause in the LDC Local Lottery.
On Thursday 19th September, 2024, Lewes Town Council pledged their support to making Lewes a Swift-friendly town. They support us in protecting existing nest sites and in encouraging the provision of Swift boxes or Swift bricks in new developments and renovations.
In 2020, LSS worked with LTC to develop a leaflet to advise all councillors: Consideration of Swift accommodation when considering planning applications.
The Lewes Urban Arboretum Project, managed by the Trees Committee of Friends of Lewes, supports Swifts through planting and looking after trees and hedgerows around the town. These trees provide food and habitat for a wide range of insects and invertebrates - which provides food for the Swifts. When we are monitoring Swifts, we often see them circling above trees to catch the insects rising up from them. Later in the evening, we see bats feeding there too!
The Executive Committee of Friends of Lewes monitors planning applications to safeguard existing nest sites and promote the conservation of the natural environment. They have supported Swifts directly by funding some of the nest boxes which we installed in De Montfort Road. Swifts nested in one of these boxes in 2024! Friends of Lewes
Wildflower Lewes supports Swifts through planting wildflowers in public and private spaces, and encouraging others to do the same, to help to create bigger, better and well-connected green corridors and stepping stones. This not only provides food for the pollinators on which we all depend, but increases food and habitat for a wide range of the insects and invertebrates that are the food supply for Swifts.
Facebook: Wildflower Lewes
Sussex Wildlife Trust helped to launch Lewes Swift Supporters when the group was first formed in 2017. Since then, it has supported us in sharing news and blogs about the Swifts in Lewes so that we might reach a wider audience. Through their talks and walks in Lewes and throughout Sussex they help to engage people in actions for nature's recovery. Their chalk downland nature reserve at Malling Down is a paradise of wildflowers, butterflies and other insects.
Love our Ouse supports Swifts through involving the wider community in monitoring and improving the health of our river and its tributaries and restoring habitat beside our waterways. A healthy river is a wonderful breeding ground for a wide range of wildlife and Swifts and other birds love to hunt for food above the river.
Love our Ouse - Celebrate Learn Act
Lewes Climate Hub supports Swifts through seasons of events that inspire visitors to take positive action to improve resilience to climate change and to reverse the crash in biodiversity. At 32 High Street, Lewes, they provide a welcoming space where community groups can share guidance, for example, on planting trees, growing wildflowers, supporting our local bee population and reducing pollution.
Baxter's Field is a valuable green space in Lewes with trees, hedgerows and a copse. It is a home to foxes, bats, and hedgehogs and on summer evenings we can watch Swifts hunting insects above the trees before they return to their nests.
The Railway Land Wildlife Trust actively manages the Railway Land Nature Reserve to provide a wealth of varied habitat for insects and invertebrates: wildflower meadows, a clear chalk stream, ponds and scrapes, trees and hedgerows. Through their work with Lewes District Council and the Ouse and Adur Rivers Trust to renature the Cockshut Regeneration Ground, they have provided an excellent wetland feeding ground for Swifts and other birds. Lewes Swift Supporters are proud of being in partnership with the Railway Land, Common Cause Cooperative, Wildflower Lewes and Lewes Urban Arboretum in the Lewes Mosaic Project "to help build a mosaic of habitats right across the town, providing homes and food for our wonderful wildlife and bringing our town to life". So, if you are contributing towards making Lewes a Swift-friendly town, you may share your work on the Lewes Mosaic map.
Priory School supports Swifts through actively involving their students in creating, managing, and learning about habitat for wildlife through their Environment student representatives and Forest School projects.
Wallands Community Primary School supports our Swifts through actively involving the school community in creating and managing habitat for wildlife, including trees, hedgerows, woodland areas, wildflower banks, a pond and a rain garden. They also host three Swift boxes!
The South Downs National Park supports biodiversity in Lewes through advice and funding, helping the community to renature the South Downs, making positive environmental changes, and improving access so that we may all enjoy the countryside. For example, they manage the Ouse Valley Climate Action Project and have provided #Beelines funding so that Lewes Urban Arboretum could plant a wildlife hedge in Jubilee Gardens and so Wildflower Lewes could improve pollinator habitat at Lewes Cemetery. SDNPA also supports delivery of larger schemes such as the restoration of the Cockshut wetlands.
Ouse Valley Climate Action, (OVCA), is a programme funded by the National Lottery to bring the community together to inspire positive action to mitigate the effects of climate change in the lower Ouse Valley and Havens. Led by the South Downs National Park, OVCA includes ten local partner organisations and supports dozens of community-led initiatives. OVCA has supported Lewes Swift Supporters by funding ten of the Swift boxes we have installed near existing colonies. They have also funded thirty of the street trees planted by Lewes Urban Arboretum. You may find out more about OVCA here: OVCA
Western Road School supports Swifts through engaging the children in creating and managing habitat for wildlife and learning about the wildlife that benefits from it. All of the children helped to plant a wildlife hedgerow around the perimeter of the school field. Each year they learn about species of conservation concern, including Swifts. They share their knowledge across the wider community through wonderful art work, poems and speeches. The school hosts three double Swift boxes.
Lewes District Council has given positive support to Swifts and nature recovery in Lewes. LDC Officers have worked with Lewes Swift Supporters to record all active Swift nests on properties owned by LDC so that they might be safeguarded during renovations. Officers have also provided invaluable help in finding new sites where Lewes Urban Arboretum can plant trees and hedgerows for wildlife and have jointly funded some of the projects. Throughout the year they engage with several community environmental groups to manage and enhance local wildlife sites. Their contributions towards renaturing the Cockshut stream have provided a wonderful feeding ground for Swifts and House Martins in summer! Lewes District Council
Swift Conservation has inspired Lewes Swift Supporters from their beginning. LSS was first launched following a talk by Swift Conservation's founder, Edward Mayer, at the Town Hall in May 2017. Since then Edward has visited Lewes and other areas of Sussex several times to share his wealth of information about Swifts. His "Swifts and Biodiversity" presentation at Lewes Climate Hub in April 2024 stimulated our Swift-friendly town idea! The Swift Conservation website shares valuable information about Swifts and projects to help them. Swift Conservation
When Lewes Swift Supporters regenerated as a community group of volunteers in 2019, we were very grateful to RSPB for sharing their Swift monitoring methodology with us. This enabled us to make a good start to identifying Swift colonies in Lewes. Their website provides information and advice on helping nature to recover: What you can do (rspb.org.uk)
Chalk Cliff Trust has supported Lewes Swift Supporters through a grant of £1,000 that will fund our Swift-friendly town events in Spring 2025 and pay for ten more Swift nest boxes and their installation. One of their objectives is to support activities concerned with the care or preservation of the environment. Chalk Cliff Trust
Sussex Ornithological Society has supported Lewes Swift Supporters through grant funding to enable us to provide nest boxes to expand the existing colonies of Swifts in the Western Road area. Their Swift Champion, Dave Boddington, provides advice and practical assistance so that we may install Swift boxes and House Martin cups safely on a range of buildings in Lewes. Through their website, they share news and sightings of Swifts and other birds across Sussex.
Thank you to Moore Law for supporting our Swift-friendly town with their donation of £500 so that we may buy and install more nest boxes. You will notice that they have a Swift on their logo!