Welcome to residents of areas around Devonshire, Adamsrill and Lowther Hill Roads!

We've been leafleting specific roads in Forest Hill, Sydenham and Honor Oak and have had a great response.

We created two leaflets to promote Lewisham Swifts.  An A6 leaflet lists our contact details (Kilmorie Road residents may recognise that leaflet!) and an A5 'Swift spotters' leaflet explains a bit about swifts and asks people to report swift sightings to us.

Originally we intended to use the 'Swift spotters' leaflets to target a broad audience and help build a picture of where swifts were being seen across a wide area.  But the hot weather made the idea of standing at train stations etc handing leaflets to disinterested passers-by seem less appealing.

Fortunately we had received a few leads about nest sites (a nest in Adamsrill Road had been logged on the RSPB Swift Survey map, and there were reports via social media of nests in Devonshire/Tyson Road and Lowther Hill).  So we decided to leaflet homes in those immediate areas (still arduous work in hot weather but at least you can choose a cooler time of day).

And what a response we had!  The 'owner' of the nest in Adamsrill Road got in touch; the next-door neighbour of a nest in Tyson Road gave us some house numbers in Devonshire Road to investigate; and we've had lots of enthusiastic reports of sightings (particularly from the Adamsrill Road area - they're obviously a swift-friendly bunch down there).

So now we have to build on that information and enthusiasm to work towards protecting existing nests and encouraging neighbours to install new ones, and hopefully grow the size of the colonies.  Which makes leafleting in 30 degree temperatures the easy bit.  Now the hard work really begins!

Mayow Park's Lark in the Park (Forest Hill) - 30 June 2018

We buddied up with the Forest Hill Society again and perched on their stall at Lark in the Park.  It turned out to be a good symbiotic relationship as many visitors lived in Forest Hill so we were able to talk to them both about local swifts and the FH Society.

 
This time we brought some portable sky (ie some blue net fabric) and hung some swifts from it (made from the Action for Swifts mobile template).

A few people we spoke to had already heard about us.  One was a local resident who had read about the Wynell Road nest box installation and had e-mailed us, eager to become involved with swifts.  He has spread the word amongst his neighbours and there are now three households considering installing nest boxes!

Swift Awareness Week (16-23 June 2018): Burnt Ash Road talk and visit

As part of Swift Awareness week Lewisham Swifts organised a swift social evening at the Lord Northbrook Pub in Lee. After drinks and a chat, Steve Robinson from Swift Conservation gave a talk about swifts which was followed by a walk to the swift colony in Burnt Ash Road.  The swifts were on good form and we were rewarded with lots of swift action and sightings of swifts swooping to return to their nests. Many thanks to everyone who attended.