'Swift action needed to save endangered birds'

Swift bricks provide a space where swifts can nest

- JOE WOODS Reporter

SENEDD members have debated a 10,000-name petition calling for "swift bricks" to be made mandatory in all new buildings to reverse the bird's alarming decline.

Carolyn Thomas, who chairs the petitions committee, warned swifts are now Wales' fastest-declining bird as she led a debate in the Senedd.

She told the Senedd: "The decline is now at more than 76% since 1995, even worse than since the petition was submitted, and there has been a 56% decline in just the last 10 years."

Ms Thomas explained one of the main causes of the alarming decline of swifts, which are red-listed as birds of conservation concern, is the loss of nesting sites.

She said: "Campaigners argue only a mandatory approach to installing swift bricks will provide enough new nest spaces to allow swifts to recover to anything like former levels."

The north Walian explained hollow swift bricks can slot into the brickwork of new or old homes, providing a space where swifts can nest.