Irish Name: Gabhlán gaoithe
Scientific name: Apus apus
Bird Family: Swift
Swifts are amazing birds who live most of their lives ‘on the wing’ (in flight). They even eat and sleep while flying. Some individuals go up to 10 months without landing. No other bird spends as much of its life in flight. Swifts come from South Africa each year just for the summer where they breed and raise their young. Swifts are a species in decline around the world so it is wonderful that some swifts have chosen Castleknock as their Irish summer home.
To encourage a larger population to nest in the buildings in the other two Castleknock primary schools and Castleknock College, we purchased and installed three triple swift-nesting boxes from Castleknock TidyTowns funds (with some support from Fingal County Council). We are happy to report that a number of the nesting boxes were occupied during the 2022 summer season.
To read more about the nesting boxes see the PDF from Swift Conservation below:
