support us | Crieff Swift Project
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Creative Commons image by Billy Lindblom

SUPPORTING THE CRIEFF SWIFT PROJECT

Data survey

When you send in information about swift nest sites, please could you give as much information as possible. We know that people will not be able to "tick all the boxes" but as many as possible helps us build a more robust database for ongoing use, which will be shared with organisations such as Perth & Kinross Council, Tayside Biodiversity Partnership, RSPB, BTO and the NBN Atlas.

The information we would like is:

  • The date and time
  • Your name and contact information
  • The postal address of the property
  • The name of the owner / tenant of the property
  • The GPS location (if you have the technology for an accurate reading)
  • What3Words location with phone screen shot*
  • Photographs of the nest site(s) and of the building in street context.
  • Description of the site (estimated height above ground, position on building, orientation)
Feel free to add any other observations about weather, flying swift behaviour, whether the owner knows about the nest, likelihood of building maintenance impacting on the nest’s future security etc.

What 3 Words locating

* what3words locating is likely to be the most accurate method of recording the location using a smart phone and it is easy to take a screenshot and fire it off to us by email. If you do not have the w3w app on your phone, you can download it for free. You can find out more about w3w at the following address: https://what3words.com/about-us/

Here are some examples of w3w emailed screenshots:

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Below are typical images sent in during the 2019 season - thanks to Peter Wrigley, Ema Hathaway, and Catriona Davies for their several contributions.

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As you can see from the GPS information it is only offering accuracy at 39' which is not really good enough for this exercise and why we prefer to use the W3W system if possible. Even though W3W is subject to the same vagaries of location and may position your phone in the wrong place, the satellite view helps to fix the exact 3m square, so there can be no doubt.

Of course, if you do not have the means to offer either, a photo or description as the list above will do fine and we can verify the other details ourselves.

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Coordinators

CRIEFF AREA
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David Ferguson

David joined Dundee District Council in 1990 as a Countryside Ranger / Naturalist and worked as a member in a team of 4.

From 1992-1996 he played a large part in the negotiations with landowners and users of the area, such as wildfowlers, in order to establish the Inner Tay Local Nature Reserve on the Tay Estuary, an area where he had been counting wader species as part of the Wetland Bird Scheme for the British Trust for Ornithology for a year or so, and continued to do high and low tide counts every month for the next 16 years.

He managed Broughty Ferry Local Nature Reserve, which is an ancient sand-dune system, and organised a group of volunteers here for nearly 18 years. David was also involved in trying to establish a colony of terns on Barry Buddon using clay-fired decoys, which had been painted by groups of local school-children.

Latterly he was involved in the Dundee Swift Project through monitoring areas for nests and helping to lead walks for interested members of the public. After 18 years Rangering based in Dundee, David retired from the post in 2008 and started a new career.

Since leaving rangering, Dave has continued enjoying wildlife on a personal level and with his family, mainly through his love of walking / travelling.

You can contact Dave by email at crieffcaleyman19@aol.com

COMRIE WEST

Martin Ridley



You can contact Martin at: art@martinridley.com

MUTHILL

Graeme Cook



You can contact Graeme at: graemec@naturalpower.com

GENERAL
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Andrew Rodger

Is an architect who has been involved with swifts in Perthshire for over thirty years and has been associated with the Tayside Biodiversity Partnership for half that time. He is committed to helping the development of a general awareness and appreciation of these extraordinary birds and to trying to prevent the, often unnecessary, disruption of their breeding habitat: "they have enough difficulties to contend with, without people making their lives harder."

His hope for the Crieff Swift Project is to develop a useful method of recording the swifts' breeding sites and behaviour during their breeding season, which will help to develop an understanding what characterises the best nesting environment, what puts their nest sites at risk and what is likely to be the best mitigation strategy in the face of those risks, if they cannot be averted.

Andrew tries to use his understanding of buildings to help swifts and people to live together and he devotes much time to thinking about ways to create new nest sites within the building fabric and is working on projects to test in the coming seasons. Since 2016 he has been cultivating a project to establish a swift "condominium" in a landmark building, which might not only give new permanent nest sites for up to 100 pairs but also could provide a useful research station for ongoing studies.

From his earliest years, Andrew has been a keen and devoted watcher of wildlife. He professes no expertise but has been around long enough to know a few things, which might help him to encourage others to care for our precious and sometimes embattled wildlife — caring begins with a desire to understand.

You can contact Andrew or the CSP office at swifts@cgstudio.uk