The building works on Highbury Quadrant Estate give birds new homes thanks to a local campaigner.
The major renovation works taking place on Highbury Quadrant Estate over the recent months have been turned into an opportunity to improve the nesting prospects for swifts resident, Peter O’Garr.
Three nesting boxes for swifts have been put up within the last month and three more are due in the coming weeks. Funded by Ozone Gliders, The boxes were installed by MEARs who are carrying out the major works supported by Islington Council.
Mr O’Garr said: “I’ve lived in this area of London for 30 years, and one of the things that I always enjoy is seeing the swifts return every spring.” The birds spend their winters in Africa and migrate back to the UK in April and May each year.
Nesting boxes are placed high on scaffoldings to provide perfect homes for bird populations, which are usually disturbed when people are doing up houses as “gentrification leads to fewer nesting sites”, said Mr O’Garr.
The scaffolding from the major works enables access to these high sites.
Mike Priaulx, an animal ecologist from Islington Swifts, helped Mr O’Garr in this project. The Islington Swifts group are active across Islington, helping to protect the bird population through “awareness and advise”.
Mr O’Garr is waiting for confirmation about funding for future bat boxes in the estate.
