{"id":60374,"date":"2026-04-24T15:30:34","date_gmt":"2026-04-24T15:30:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/shef-live.co.uk\/?p=60374"},"modified":"2026-04-24T15:30:50","modified_gmt":"2026-04-24T15:30:50","slug":"church-installs-nesting-boxes-to-save-endangered-bird-species","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shef-live.co.uk\/index.php\/2026\/04\/24\/church-installs-nesting-boxes-to-save-endangered-bird-species\/","title":{"rendered":"Broomhill church installs nesting boxes to save endangered bird species\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>A Broomhill church has installed 16 new swift nesting boxes just before the birds start their migration season.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The boxes were installed in collaboration with the Sheffield Swift Network and are located in the north facing side of St Mark&#8217;s Church\u2019s bell tower in Broomfield Road.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Margaret Ainger, Environment Group lead at St Mark&#8217;s Church, said: &#8220;We were delighted to be able to complete our project just before celebrating Easter with it&#8217;s promise of renewed life and hope to the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe now await the arrival of swifts and hope they find a good home with us.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The boxes were designed, made and installed by Jan-Erik Bullet, making sure that the nest chambers were tailored to the specific requirements of the swifts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"769\" src=\"https:\/\/shef-live.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/nest-boxes-st-marks.webp\" alt=\"\n\" class=\"wp-image-60383\" style=\"aspect-ratio:1.33161420806472;width:782px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/shef-live.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/nest-boxes-st-marks.webp 1024w, https:\/\/shef-live.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/nest-boxes-st-marks-980x736.webp 980w, https:\/\/shef-live.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/nest-boxes-st-marks-480x360.webp 480w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 0px) and (max-width: 480px) 480px, (min-width: 481px) and (max-width: 980px) 980px, (min-width: 981px) 1024px, 100vw\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Swift boxes inside the church&#8217;s bell tower &#8211; photography credits to Jan-Erik Bullet<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>St Mark\u2019s bell tower was chosen as a suitable location because nests have to be placed up at a height of at least two stories high, have a clear five metre flight path that is free from trees, and avoid facing south so they are not exposed to direct sunlight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Sheffield Swift Network has been campaigning for widespread installation of swift boxes as they are on the UK Red List of endangered species, with their populations plummeting by 70% in just 30 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This is because swifts normally find their homes in the eaves of people\u2019s roofs which are becoming increasingly blocked by modern construction practices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Building repairs and renovations seal roof spaces and obstruct small access points that swifts usually use to access their nests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As swifts typically migrate up from sub-Saharan Africa to the UK and arrive in South Yorkshire in early May, allowing them to nest and raise their chicks, the church seemed an obvious choice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Swifts are also site faithful meaning that the same pair returns to the same nest every year, making the nests a long term investment that can be used for years to come.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>St Mark\u2019s is also a gold awarded eco church and their new swift boxes have allowed them to become a more sustainable and nature friendly community.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A Broomhill church has installed 16 new swift nesting boxes just before the birds start their migration season.\u00a0 The boxes were installed in collaboration with the Sheffield Swift Network and are located in the north facing side of St Mark&#8217;s Church\u2019s bell tower in Broomfield Road. Margaret Ainger, Environment Group lead at St Mark&#8217;s Church, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":283,"featured_media":60382,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[154,5,132,165],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-60374","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-environment-2","category-news","category-top-stories","category-top-story-4"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shef-live.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60374","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shef-live.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shef-live.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shef-live.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/283"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shef-live.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=60374"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/shef-live.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60374\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":60416,"href":"https:\/\/shef-live.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60374\/revisions\/60416"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shef-live.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/60382"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shef-live.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60374"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shef-live.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60374"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shef-live.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60374"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}