Get Your Home Ready for Sparrows and Swifts
Air Quality Brentford seeking to provide nesting boxes to local residents
Swift boxes in Brentford. Picture: Air Quality Brentford
September 8, 2023
Local environmental campaign group,Air Quality Brentford is hoping purchase some sparrow terraces and swift boxes to give away to residents. Its plan is that this could be done in conjunction with a greening of front gardens to help boost the local population of these bird species which has been in long term decline. Either additional grants or existing funding will be used to support the scheme.
If you have walked down Orchard Road, you might have noticed tweeting birds rather than the sound of traffic. Some of the residents on this road have made a special effort to provide a suitable environment in their front gardens for sparrows. In London, sparrow numbers fell by 60% between 1994 and 2004. The house sparrow is now on the red list of conservation concern, as are swifts which fly from Africa to the UK to nest in the summer.
Air Quality Brentford would love to spread the sound of singing birds to other roads and MakeBrentfordGreener at the same time. If you think you could get involved let it know and its members will try to offer some advice.
If you would like to express an interest in a free sparrow and/or swift bird box for your front garden, email airqualitybrentford@hotmail.com in the first instance.
To help sparrows generally, a natural approach is to use ivy which the birds can nest in, but not everyone wants a wall of ivy. Another approach is to install a nest-box or a terrace box with several compartments each at the front of your house just below roof level. The more greenery you can provide around the nests the better so they can feed on insects.
Swift chicks make very little mess or noise, and you can either buy or make your own box. Swifts need an unobstructed flyway, at least 5m above the ground, to which they zoom in at high speeds!
Find information about making your own box here or buy a swift box from the RSPB shop.
Air Quality Brentford (AQB) is a voluntary group of local Brentford residents helping to improve air quality and can be found on Facebook, 
@agreenerlondon.
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