July 2017 - playing swift attraction calls

Nest boxes alone are not enough to attract swifts - attraction calls must be played too.  A CD and MP3 downloads can be purchased from Swift Conservation and downloads of Dutch recordings are available from the website of the Netherlands Swift Protection Group.

This was Rebecca's feedback on the Dutch calls:

"For those playing swift attraction calls at the moment for their boxes, The Netherlands Swift Protection group has free downloadable calls recorded by Rosanne van Oudheusden on their website. The recommended track numbers are 1, 10, 13 and 14 (or 14a or 15a). For the past week I have been playing track 1 on loop with some interest. But today I played track 14 on loop instead and this attracted much more interest - I had 15 plus swifts coming to check out the sound and going crazy with some hitting the box but not yet going in. This google translate link will take you to their translated website. Click sounds under the downloads tab."

https://translate.google.com/translate?depth=1&hl=en&ie=UTF8&prev=_t&rurl=translate.google.com&sl=auto&tl=en&twu=1&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.gierzwaluwbescherming.nl%2Fdownloads%2F 

Action for Swifts gives information about playing attraction calls, as does the Suffolk Wildlife Trust which ranks the different techniques of playing calls against the likelihood of attracting swifts, and gives detailed information about setting up your own sound system.