2 July 2025
RSPB Antrim Local Group hosted an event in Ballyclare Town Hall to thank people who offered to make a home for swifts during our recent project to distribute swift nest boxes and callers to the community
In March this year, RSPB Antrim Local Group launched our project to distribute swift boxes and callers systems to the community in Ballyclare and surrounding area. One year earlier we had offered the scheme on a smaller scale in Parkgate. This evening was an event to say thank you to everyone who had offered to help our swifts and to celebrate the amazing progress we have made so far – 18 swift boxes in Parkgate and 68 in Ballyclare.
Club secretary Kate McAllister got things started by welcoming everyone and thanking them for their efforts to help swifts.
This included the people that offered to take swift boxes and callers; our club treasurer Edward McKee, who made the majority of nest boxes for the project and put some of them up; Donal McGettigan from Openreach, who have put up some of the boxes for us using their cherry pickers and skilled engineers, and Councillor Michael Stewart who helped us bring the project to a much wider audience and facilitated the use of Ballyclare Town Hall for our events.
Councillor Stewart also liaised with Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council to get swift boxes put on the town hall and to have the clock tower illuminated in the RSPB colour of blue and green to celebrate Swift Awareness Week (28th June to 6 July).
Next, we heard from Councilllor Anne Marie Logue, Swift Champion for Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough.
Councillor Logue brought us the good news that the newly updated planning guidance for the borough now includes a recommendation to include swift bricks in all new developments.
Our group’s new co-leader, Rhona Bell, was next to speak. Rhona gave everyone a quick run through how to use Swift Mapper.
Swift Mapper (swiftmapper.org.uk) is a website and mobile app developed by RSPB and others that enables members of the public to log the site of active swift nests. Hopefully, our new swift hosts will be able to log swift nests in their boxes in the near future.
We rounded off the talks with some uplifting stories of swifts already taking an interest in some of the new nest boxes and possibly even breeding in a box put up in Parkgate last summer.
Billy Reed from nearby Doagh has been able to photograph swifts from his window and in the garden as they investigate the new boxes put up just this year.
Former Group leader Brenda, finally got a pair of swifts nesting in one of the nest boxes put up eight years ago. Just shows that you sometimes need to be patient if you want swifts to come and live with you!
There was time for everyone to mingle and chat about their experiences with swifts over a cuppa and a ‘swift bun’ before heading out for a dusk walk looking for swifts.
It was a very enjoyable evening and we made a few new contacts as well so there will hopefully be even more nest boxes for swifts coming soon!