House Martin and Swift Towers

This truly collaborative project has resulted in the installation of 5 towers (two in Aldbourne village and three on surrounding farms).  All towers were supplied and installed by Peak Boxes and installed on private land (we had the very welcome support of the Parish Council to put one on the road verge in the square but in the end this was moved slightly onto private land as although Highways Wiltshire did not raise any objections they ultimately would not grant consent to place it on the verge.

These towers are secured with ground screws and will last several decades.  They are made with eco-friendly but durable materials and provide safe nesting havens with 15 Swift boxes, 24 House Martin cups and eight bat compartments.  They also include a solar powered and remote controlled speaker that will play Swift and House Martin calls in Spring to help these colony nesting birds to find their way to the towers.

For House Martins the use of towers is relatively new in the UK (although there are several towers colonised with House Martins in the UK) but has been used extensively on the continent where they have been credited with saving local populations of House Martins from extinction.  It is the case that in an ideal world House Martins would be building their own nests on buildings, but as we watch our population dwindle (there was only 1 pair nesting in the centre of Aldbourne in 2024) we have to act now or never.  This does not mean that encouraging House Martins to nest by providing mud puddles and placing artifical nests on buildings with deep eves is not encouraged and if you would like to find out more about how you could help House Martins then please do get in touch we would love to encourage and support any such efforts.

Our Swift populations are equally important and we really hope that they will move into these towers - it would be such a joy to see large groups of Swifts using these towers and gracing our village into the future.

Please keep visiting this page as we update with further information about Swifts and House Martins in the UK and the need to protect them, about exciting projects to monitor these towers and ultimately about the success of these towers over the coming couple of years and what we can expect ongoing.