Last week the Storrington & Arun Valley Sussex Wildlife Trust Regional Group (SAVRG) completed the installation of 18 more swift boxes around Storrington, with a further 12 boxes set to go up in Amberley, Billingshurst and Pulborough. This brings the total of new homes for swifts created by the group to 86.
Many of these boxes can easily be spotted as you walk around Storrington and we are especially grateful to Crossways Veterinary Group on School Hill and to the owners of Forge House on Church Street who now host 2 and 5 bespoke swift residences, respectively.
School Hill is one of key sites where swifts have been nesting for more than 50 years. Forge House is a building which sadly lost its nesting swifts when the building was renovated about 15 years ago. The current owners are keen to restore the birds to this once active swift colony and will soon be playing their amazing calls to attract them back.
The swifts are already starting to arrive, after their long migration from Africa.
One of the best places to see our remaining swift population performing their aerial acrobatics is around the Waitrose Car park. If you stand in the Waitrose car park at sunset in high summer you have a good chance of enjoying a real treat, as the birds swoop and scream over the car park and between the buildings on School Hill.
SAVRG is very grateful to Wilder Horsham District, who funded this project. Wilder Horsham District is an innovative five-year partnership between Sussex Wildlife Trust and Horsham District Council working to deliver a Nature Recovery Network for Horsham District.
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