Swift Nest Boxes and making your place swift friendly

[@martinbrookes616]

An excellent comprehensive guide. Many thanks

[@paulcox3229]

Thank you for this. Looking to build some this winter for a 2023 deployment.

[@andrewarthurmatthews6685]

For an oversized hole you can use your template to mark the optimal slotted hole on a piece of suitable weatherproof board / etc , cut it out , then allow this ‘patch ‘ to be slightly bigger than the original hole , mark , drill and affix with screws. In fact if you are finding this problem of incorrect sized holes then it would be easy to make up a few of these pieces ready to be used to ‘improve ‘ the boxes

[@andrewarthurmatthews6685]

Maybe make a plywood / hardboard template of the exact entrance hole . This guarantees uniform sizes every time . Place in position, draw round , remove template, drill holes and cut slot with jigsaw or other suitable hand saw

[@johnwhiteshooting9300]

Very informative, thank you for uploading 👍

[@andrewarthurmatthews6685]

Great stuff as I am ready to make a few swift nest boxes. Question- I am not aware that swifts are around my area, back gardens etc. So is it just up to luck as it were , for the swifts to stumble upon the box ?

[@johnyoung5687]

Playing calls to lure potential breeding swifts is important. Some people attract swifts immediately, some have waited years with no takers.

[@andrewarthurmatthews6685]

As an old school woodworker can you also give the dimensions in imperial please . Remember many folk were brought up with feet and inches and still use those measurements

[@andrewarthurmatthews6685]

I have a large amount of 18 / 19 th century first class quality mahogany timber which being a hardwood will have a long life expectancy . Perhaps the external surfaces will be treated with linseed oil . Does this sound a good idea for a 3 or 4 hole box ?