It’s all go on the Swifts front just now!
Last week we were part of the first ever Swift Conference in Scotland, held in Arbroath, as part of the Angus Coastal Swifts project. It was a fantastic day with people travelling from all over Scotland to share ideas and discover how much is going on to help these wonderful birds. We ran a guided walk the evening before, with a great attendance from people and Swifts, a screaming party of 7 and one flying out of an occupied nest site when we were there! The photo below shows the nest site – just a tiny gap in the stonework, under the rhone, that you’d never notice unless there at the right time to see a Swift zoom in or out.
Here are some photos from the conference. We had wonderful talks from Edward Mayer from Swift Conservation to set the scene, Cally Smith from Huntly Swifts, Joanna Dick from Perth & Kinross Planning, Toby Wilson from the RSPB (look at those wonderful murals in Edinburgh!), I talked about projects I have run over the past 20 years in Tayside (no photo of me sadly), Aileen Salway from NESBREC and Paul from New ARC Wildlife Rescue. Their presentations are now on the Tayside Biodiversity Partnership (TBP) website here: https://www.taysidebiodiversity.co.uk/get-involved/projects/projects-swifts/
Thanks to everyone who came along to make it such a successful day!
I am running quite a few free Swift guided walks & survey training sessions over the next few months as part of the TBP’s Biodiversity Villages Project and Angus Council’s Coastal Swift Project. All walks meet at 8.30pm – details below:
June:
12th – Crook of Devon – Meet at 8.30pm by Crook of Devon village hall on Station Rd; What3Words ref https://what3words.com/apprehend.activates.chainsaw (click on link to go to Google maps).
13th – Auchterarder – Meet at 8.30pm at the Co-op on the High Street; What3Words ref https://what3words.com/chosen.scraper.grumbling (click on link to go to Google maps).
19th – Stanley – Meet at 8.30pm at Stanley village hall, Perth Rd; What3Words ref https://what3words.com/dabble.coasted.replayed
20th – Inchture – Meet at 8.30pm at the car park on Moncur Rd; What3Words ref https://what3words.com/hike.intestine.flattens
26th – Blairgowrie – Meet at 8.30pm by the library at 46 Leslie Street, Blairgowrie, Perth and Kinross, PH10 6AW or What3Words ref ///weeknight.skills.switched
27th – Guildtown – Meet at 8.30pm in front of the Anglers Inn on the main road; What3Words ref https://what3words.com/remarked.surgical.surprises
July:
3rd – Carnoustie- Meet at 8.30pm at Carnoustie sports centre car park What3Words ref https://what3words.com/never.dockers.prevented (click on link to go to Google maps).
4th – Monifieth – Meet at 8.30pm at the war memorial on Albert St What3Words ref https://what3words.com/exhales.massing.handover (click on link to go to Google maps).
17th – Montrose – Meet at 8.30pm at the Lower Hall St car park at What3Words ref https://what3words.com/voters.irrigated.loitering (click on link to go to Google maps).
18th – Arbroath – Meet at 8.30pm at the entrance to Keptie pond off Keptie Rd at What3Words ref https://what3words.com/force.spell.focus (click on link to go to Google maps).
These are free and there’s no need to book.
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