Cambridge College Helps Save Endangered Swifts

For the first time in three years, swift birds are raising families in nest boxes at Darwin College, Cambridge, marking a small but meaningful victory for a species in serious trouble.

Swifts were added to the UK's endangered Red List in 2021 after their population plummeted by 70% between 1995 and 2024. These incredible flyers can reach speeds of 69 mph and travel all the way from Africa each spring to breed in the UK, but modern buildings have destroyed their natural nesting sites.

Darwin College installed swift boxes three years ago and played recordings of swift calls to attract the birds. Mike Rands, the college's master and founding director of the Cambridge Conservation Initiative, said it usually takes a year or two for swifts to establish a colony, so this year's success is right on schedule.

Rands has been at the heart of the university's conservation efforts across Cambridge. The David Attenborough Building got 20 swift nest boxes with 24 nesting chambers back in 2020, and the first pair successfully raised two chicks there in 2021.

The university now offers a live camera feed so people can watch inside some of the nests in real time. Several other college buildings have boxes too, and the North-West Cambridge development at Eddington has installed more than 200 bird boxes, many designed specifically for swifts.

The Ripple Effect

Cambridge's project shows how universities can become conservation leaders in their communities. By replacing lost natural nesting sites with carefully designed boxes, they're creating safe havens for endangered species right in the heart of the city.

The recordings of swift calls serve as a welcoming signal, helping the birds find their new homes faster. What works at Cambridge could work anywhere modern construction has pushed out wildlife.

"It is fantastic to see them back here now, above Darwin College," Rands said, watching the birds he'd waited three years to welcome home.