There haven’t been many church installations over the past few months. I’ve been working on other projects and a new Swift Community Project sponsored by Riverford Organic. More about that in the next update. This swift season seemed to zip past! I was hoping to spend many more evenings skygazing and visiting some of the locations which have received installations for a pint and a chat with some of the Swift Champions. It was a very good season for swifts though. Early reports coming in from the Swift Champions suggest that many of the towers were investigated by swifts, particularly the elevations with swift callers. I’ll soon be compiling a report when I’ve received all of the results. The long spells of dry warm weather was good for prospecting juveniles, encouraging them to forage, investigate for nesting potential, and bond, in readiness for next year. I can’t wait for next season!
We reached the 50th church installation in Devon, recently. I never imagined, a few years ago, we’d ever achieve this, but it’s thanks to the support of the Swift Champions and the project sponsors, Devon Birds, Devon Environment Foundation, and Riverford Organic, who have enabled everything we’ve done.
Here’s a little compilation of the church installations over the summer….
Princetown St. Michael’s
This church is managed by the Church Conservation Trust (CCT) and has been renovated to increase its lifespan, removing decayed structural timberwork, etc. There are no louvres and the windows in the stairwell are sealed and glazed. The only option was a rooftop, crenelation installation. Working with Dartmoor National Park Authority, who provided great support throughout the design process, I fabricated and installed 8no. double boxes. They are twin skinned, insulated, then fibreglassed and topcoated, to provide protection from all the elements which Princetown’s weather will undoubtedly throw at them over the years. Stainless steel flat plate was secured into the mortar beds (no fixing into any stonework is a requirement for all installations) and the boxes were bracketed to them to provide the integrity. All of the units were pulleyed up the outside of the tower by a device which I made especially for the installation powered by a drill with a big battery!
Gary Easton of Princetown helped with the full-day installation which was the final stage in the 11 month process for this project. Huge thanks to: the CCT, especially Marie Leverett and James Routledge. DNPA’s James Aven and Kevin Bishop, and others who supported the installation throughout, especially, Nigel Pratt, Kevin Cox, David Curry and his team, Hazel Williams, Alex Martin, and of course, Gary Easton, who nominated himself as the Swift Champion for Princetown.
Twin walled, insulated (with space blanket!) boxes.
3D printed access ports designed specifically for waterproofing and exposure tolerance.
Front of boxes showing canopy for the sideways rain of Princetown!
Lifting hoist contraption thingy!
Gary with complete installation
South Molton, St. Mary Magdalene
Vivien Drake of the Chulmleigh Swift Group contacts me regularly asking “..do you need any more churches, have you installed in this church, or that church?”. She has been instrumental to me gaining access to survey and install in all of the mid-Devon churches, so when she told me that she’d made contact with St. Mary’s PCC and they were keen to be involved with the project, there was no surprise. A meeting was arranged with members of Chulmleigh Swift Group, South Molton Swift Group, and St. Mary’s, Lyn Winter and Dave, before the survey. Everyone was in full support of the project as it would be an addition to the nestboxes already installed in the town over the years. Great Result!
Dave guided me up the tower and into the bell chamber where we discovered large mesh screens which covered some hefty wooden louvres, which in turn were behind the intricately carved stone screens…..not the easiest design prospect, but that’s half of the allure for me! Over a series of visits and some fancy 3D imagery of the stone screens, a proposal was issued to the PCC, which was given the green light and received Archdeacon Approval. It is one of the larger installations completed by the project but luckily super helpers Fred and Dave were on hand and carried most of the 60 nest chambers aloft. During the installation, we had swifts flying past the tower which responded immediately to the caller when it was turned on!
Thanks again to Lyn and Dave, Chulmleigh Swift Group, and South Molton Swifts….and my amazing son, Fred!
The church tower.
3D imagery video used to measure the pierced stone screens (click the image to play).
Imagery used to design nestbox configuration.
Mesh panels and louvres removed for installation
Nestboxes installed with ramps where required to provide access for the swifts.
A swift super group! L-R Chris, Ann, Vivien, Fred, me, Lyn, and Caroline…..and Dave! (image BBC)
East Budleigh, All Saints.
Colin Randall of Devon Birds fame put me in touch with the team at All Saints and it was a comparatively straightforward installation. An easily accessed bell chamber with intact wooden louvres, certainly helped! Many thanks to Alan Murdoch and Paul Kurowski who nominated himself as the Swift Champion for East Budleigh.
Paul and Fred on installation day with 48 nest chambers, installed.
