{"id":54,"date":"2019-11-12T11:15:17","date_gmt":"2019-11-12T11:15:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stjohnsburystedmunds.co.uk\/?page_id=54"},"modified":"2026-03-07T16:56:52","modified_gmt":"2026-03-07T16:56:52","slug":"swifts","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/stjohnsburystedmunds.co.uk\/index.php\/eco-church\/swifts\/","title":{"rendered":"Swifts"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><div class=\"fusion-fullwidth fullwidth-box  gradient-container-1 nonhundred-percent-fullwidth non-hundred-percent-height-scrolling\"  style='background-color: rgba(255,255,255,0);background-position: center center;background-repeat: no-repeat;padding-top:0px;padding-right:0px;padding-bottom:0px;padding-left:0px;'><div class=\"fusion-builder-row fusion-row \"><div  class=\"fusion-layout-column fusion_builder_column fusion_builder_column_1_1 fusion-builder-column-1 fusion-one-full fusion-column-first fusion-column-last gradient-column-1 1_1\"  style='margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:20px;'>\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"fusion-column-wrapper\" style=\"padding: 0px 0px 0px 0px;background-position:left top;background-repeat:no-repeat;-webkit-background-size:cover;-moz-background-size:cover;-o-background-size:cover;background-size:cover;\"   data-bg-url=\"\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"fusion-widget-area fusion-widget-area-1 fusion-content-widget-area\"><style type=\"text\/css\">.fusion-widget-area-1 {padding:0px 0px 0px 0px;}.fusion-widget-area-1 .widget h4 {color:#333333;}.fusion-widget-area-1 .widget .heading h4 {color:#333333;}<\/style><div id=\"alg_back_button_wp_widget-2\" class=\"widget alg_back_button_wp_widget\"><a href=\"javascript:history.back()\" class=\"alg_back_button_simple \" style=\"\"><< Return to previous section<\/a><\/div><div class=\"fusion-additional-widget-content\"><\/div><\/div><div class=\"fusion-clearfix\"><\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div><\/div><\/div><div class=\"fusion-fullwidth fullwidth-box  gradient-container-2 nonhundred-percent-fullwidth non-hundred-percent-height-scrolling\"  style='background-color: rgba(255,255,255,0);background-position: center center;background-repeat: no-repeat;padding-top:0px;padding-right:0px;padding-bottom:0px;padding-left:0px;'><div class=\"fusion-builder-row fusion-row \"><div  class=\"fusion-layout-column fusion_builder_column fusion_builder_column_1_1 fusion-builder-column-2 fusion-one-full fusion-column-first fusion-column-last gradient-column-2 1_1\"  style='margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;'>\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"fusion-column-wrapper\" style=\"padding: 0px 0px 0px 0px;background-position:left top;background-repeat:no-repeat;-webkit-background-size:cover;-moz-background-size:cover;-o-background-size:cover;background-size:cover;\"   data-bg-url=\"\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"fusion-text\"><div id=\"attachment_75\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-75\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-75 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/stjohnsburystedmunds.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/33-IMG_4294-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"https:\/\/stjohnsburystedmunds.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/33-IMG_4294-200x150.jpg 200w, https:\/\/stjohnsburystedmunds.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/33-IMG_4294-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/stjohnsburystedmunds.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/33-IMG_4294-400x300.jpg 400w, https:\/\/stjohnsburystedmunds.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/33-IMG_4294-600x450.jpg 600w, https:\/\/stjohnsburystedmunds.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/33-IMG_4294-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/stjohnsburystedmunds.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/33-IMG_4294-800x600.jpg 800w, https:\/\/stjohnsburystedmunds.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/33-IMG_4294-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/stjohnsburystedmunds.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/33-IMG_4294-1200x900.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-75\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><em>Installation of the swift boxes in the tower.<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n<p>Happily, St John\u2019s tower is a summertime home to some extremely welcome feathered guests \u2013 a wonderful and iconic species of bird that is synonymous with urban settings, buildings and summer skylines\u2026<\/p>\n<p>This follows the experimental installation of swift boxes behind\u00a0the belfry lattice work of the church\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<p><i>Churchwarden Valerie Wilde reported in August 2025: <\/i>\u00a0Behind the red grids in the tower of St John\u2019s church are 60 swift nest boxes.\u00a0\u00a0The swifts are counted and ringed each year by Simon Evans who takes on subcontracted work for Action for Swifts.\u00a0\u00a0This year Simon found that 59 of the boxes showed signs of occupancy.\u00a0\u00a0He ringed 112 chicks this summer which came from 53 of the boxes.\u00a0\u00a0He also put rings on 9 non-breeding adults and 2 birds from a previous season.<\/p>\n<\/div><div class=\"fusion-clearfix\"><\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":17,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stjohnsburystedmunds.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/54"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stjohnsburystedmunds.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stjohnsburystedmunds.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stjohnsburystedmunds.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stjohnsburystedmunds.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=54"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/stjohnsburystedmunds.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/54\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1624,"href":"https:\/\/stjohnsburystedmunds.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/54\/revisions\/1624"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stjohnsburystedmunds.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/17"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stjohnsburystedmunds.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}