Swift Box Success for Harborough

A two-year project that’s seen the installation of hundreds of swift nesting boxes in buildings across Leicestershire has been hailed a huge success.

In 2023, Leicestershire County Council was awarded a grant from Natural England’s Species Recovery Programme Scheme to help to boost the numbers of the threatened birds.

The Swift Action for Swifts project installed a total of 57 specialist boxes in the Harborough District – including at Harborough Leisure Centre (above) – aiming to reverse the decline in the migratory birds’ population by helping local householders to create nesting sites.

The funding was used to purchase not only the nesting boxes but also ‘callers’; which emit a sound designed to attract the swifts to nest in them.