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Group News
Hillcrest is Flying High
Hillcrest Housing Association has decided to make provision for swifts in its maintenance and development programmes. Swifts are small, black, sickle-winged birds remarkable for living almost entirely in the air, even sleeping on the wing, and only touching down to nest. Swifts are almost entirely dependent on small holes in building – gaps in stonework, broken pointing, or displaced slates - for nest sites. However, modern building materials and methods, and higher standards of maintenance, conspire to deny access to swifts, and their populations are becoming critically affected. In conjunction with Concern for Swifts Area Coordinator Claire Darleston, Hillcrest has designed a type of swift “multi-storey”, the first two of which are to be fitted to Burnside Mill, Dundee, as part of the works to convert this 19th century mill into a supported accommodation unit for Dundee City Council. These nestboxes will provide homes for 8 homeless swift families.
The nestboxes themselves are being made by three apprentice joiners, employed by the building contractor redeveloping the property. These three apprentices are being trained by Hillcrest Agency Services as part of a unique construction training programme. During their four-year apprenticeship, the apprentices are trained to SVQ Level 3 in their chosen trade, by full time training officers employed by Hillcrest. Working with two of Dundee’s major building contractors, Hillcrest is helping to address the current shortfall of young people joining the construction industry.
The British Trust for Ornithology’s latest figures shows a 62% decline in the Scottish swift population over the last 10 years so hopefully measure like the one taken by Hillcrest will help to prevent this number falling further.