SWIFTS in Bradford on Avon now have nice new homes to go to following the installation of nesting boxes at Holy Trinity Church.

The nesting boxes were put in the church tower by Roger Becket and Peter Grayshon of the Bradford on Avon Swift Group, an offshoot of the biodiversity group of Climate Friendly Bradford on Avon, to encourage the swifts to nest there when they arrive each summer.

The Revd Canon Joanna Abecassis said: “I am delighted that we have the nest boxes installed. Let's hope the swifts notice and move in.”

Swifts are a family of highly aerial birds very similar to swallows. The gregarious birds nest, roost, migrate and hunt in groups. Weighing only 40g they migrate to Africa and back each year.

From the time of first leaving the nest young birds will not land again until they first nest themselves, possibly three years later. They feed, sleep and mate entirely on the wing.

Rowena Quantrill, of the Bradford on Avon Swift Group, said: “There has been a 47 per cent decline in Swift numbers in the UK between 1995 and 2014 and this can partly be put down to lack of nesting sites.”

The group has already installed nest boxes for the birds elsewhere in the town because the traditional nesting places under eaves and roof tiles have been blocked by modern construction methods and by householders installing plastic sofits.