Boxes in church tower offer a new home for summer swifts

The hidden installation will provide homes for nesting birds, reports Lewis Clarke

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DOZENS of endangered swifts may soon have a new place to call home in the lofty heights of an 800-year-old parish church tower, thanks to a grassroots conservation effort bringing together local wildlife groups and church leaders.

A collaborative initiative has seen swift nest boxes discreetly installed in the tower of South Molton Parish Church, offering the declining bird species safe and suitable accommodation as their natural nesting sites become increasingly scarce.