Save our Swifts project

ATU Mayo Save Our Swifts Project live streaming from our Swift Nest Boxes.

The Swift is a red-listed bird of conservation concern in Ireland because of dramatic decline in their numbers mainly due to the loss of breeding sites.  They mostly nest in nooks and crannies in old stone buildings in our urban areas and when these old buildings are renovated or demolished this destroys the nest sites.

In 2012,  the Green Campus team at ATU Mayo established a nest box project with 12 nesting compartments.  In 2019 this project was expanded to provide a total of 18 nesting compartments.  In 2022, 12 of these nesting compartments had breeding pairs of Swifts.   Each nesting compartment contains a camera so that breeding activity can be streamed and recorded. 

The recordings from several breedings seasons were analysed by ATU Mayo student, Jaroslaw Majkusiak, for his Masters by Research “The Breeding Biology of the Common Swift in Ireland”.  Jaroslaw graduated in November 2022.

The 2023 breeding season of 4 breeding pairs can be watched 24/7 on the Live Streaming Below!

Swift Blog 2024

14 May: The Swift season has started well. We have 6 pairs returned as of 13 May with several single birds awaiting their mates. We expect the first eggs to be laid in the coming days. A Welcome of the Swifts event will take place at ATU Mayo at 5pm on Wednesday 22 May - all are welcome. There will be music, poetry and a visit to the Swift livestream lab.