Installation of the swift boxes in the tower.
Happily, St John’s tower is a summertime home to some extremely welcome feathered guests – a wonderful and iconic species of bird that is synonymous with urban settings, buildings and summer skylines…
This follows the experimental installation of swift boxes behind the belfry lattice work of the church’s tower to provide vital long-term nesting sites for swifts. These extraordinary birds visit the UK each summer to breed and are highly deserving recipients of urban nature conservation projects like this.
Very sadly, numbers of swift are in year-on-year decline. Reasons for this are complex but what is clear is that these iconic birds need long-term nesting sites to ensure their survival.
Churchwarden Valerie Wilde reported in August 2025: Behind the red grids in the tower of St John’s church are 60 swift nest boxes. The swifts are counted and ringed each year by Simon Evans who takes on subcontracted work for Action for Swifts. This year Simon found that 59 of the boxes showed signs of occupancy. He ringed 112 chicks this summer which came from 53 of the boxes. He also put rings on 9 non-breeding adults and 2 birds from a previous season.