Swift colony in Dervock Church Tower!
On the 11th of June 2018 I was delighted to see that Swifts were nesting in the tower of Dervock Presbyterian Church, Co. Antrim.
From discussions I had with a Mr Laverty, who was the Church Caretaker for over 50 years, I learned that Swifts had in fact been nesting in this church tower since long before he started looking after the church.
The church was built between 1834 & 35 but the tower was only added after 1838, during the ministry of Reverend Maxwell in memory of the Reverend Alexander Martin, who was minister of the congregation (1789-1838) and was built at a cost of £1,700. It is possible then that Swifts may have been nesting in the tower for perhaps 180 years.
Over the course of the next five weeks then, I was able to take detailed photos of the building & video footage of Swift activity outside the Tower and I guesstimated that there were around 14 pairs of Swift nesting in the tower.
On the 19th of July local Swift expert Mark Smyth brought along a number of Swift enthusiasts Peter Cush, Rachel Bain, Donna Rainey & Daniel McAfee, who had each kindly volunteered to help us count the number of Swifts entering the tower, in an effort to establish just how many pairs were actually nesting in the tower. Mark & I had met up with Scott Moore the Minister on a previous occasion & although he had been very helpful we were unable to gain access to the tower that day due to a missing key. However on this occasion a Mr McBride was on site & he kindly produced the key & we were able to enter the tower.
Moving very quietly within the tower & as it was dark inside & as perforated zinc sheeting had been attached to the inside of the louvres, we were actually able to watch the birds without disturbing them. It was a truly wonderful experience to be able to see the young birds in their nests and to be able to watch the adults as they arrived & fed their youngsters.
From our visit then, we were able to establish that there were actually 13 active nests, making this probably the most important colony in north Antrim & possibly one of the most important colonies in County Antrim.
Of course the people of Dervock should feel very proud of their healthy Swift colony, not least because there was a 51% decrease in Swift breeding numbers in the UK between 1995 and 2015, which has made swifts an amber-listed species.
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Swifts nesting in Dervock Church Tower (photo album)
Swifts nesting in Dervock Church Tower (photo album)
If you’d like to see some close up photographs of Swifts, you might like to check out my album & videos below, which include detailed photos of my own efforts to establish a colony of Swifts on my own home on Knocklayde, just eight miles from Dervock.
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