MONMOUTHSHIRE County Council are asking groups and residents for their help in identifying and cataloguing sightings of common swifts across the region.

Swift numbers have declined 75 per cent since 1995, but there is something that everyone can do to help address this.

Swifts pair for life and are dependent on our buildings for breeding.

A new leaflet published by Monmouthshire County Council outlines how residents across Monmouthshire can help sharing sightings and making their homes and gardens more swift-friendly.

While similar to species such as house martins and swallows, swifts are larger and have a distinctive boomerang silhouette.

They migrate to the UK from central Africa but do not stay for very long, many returning to Africa by early August.

Residents can help provide shelter and food for swifts by:

  • Avoiding blocking small- hole sin your house. Swifts like to nest in cracks and gaps in buildings.
  • -Installing a swift box – ideally on a north facing wall
  • -Counting swift numbers near where you live
  • -Making your garden pollinator-friendly to provide plenty of food for the swifts.

To share any sightings or information, contact: [email protected]

Monmouthshire County Council Cabinet Member for Climate Change and the Environment, Catrin Maby, said: “Swifts are one of the iconic species we have here in Monmouthshire.

“If we do what we can to protect them and to help them to thrive in our own neighbourhoods, we may be able to arrest the decline in swift numbers.

“Let’s make Monmouthshire as swift-friendly as possible.”