Wider Countryside Report Header
BTO Blueline
Main WCR menu image Site navigation menu item Results overview menu item Other info menu item BTO website menu item
BTO Blueline
COMMON SWIFT
Apus apus
 Swift © Chris Mead
 
Conservation listings
Europe: no SPEC category (favourable conservation status in Europe, not concentrated in Europe)
UK: green
Long-term trend
UK: unknown
Distribution maps
Maps and statistics from British and Irish
atlases can be viewed here.
Status summary
Swifts were not monitored before the inception of the BBS and, because its results since 1994 show large fluctuations, a long time-series may be needed before population trends can be estimated with confidence. Initial results suggest decline in England and Scotland, but stability in Wales. Monitoring is complicated by the difficulty of finding occupied nests, by the weather-dependent and sometimes extraordinary distances travelled by foraging adults, and by the variable midsummer influx of non-breeding immatures. Concern for Swifts, a small organisation of private individuals, is trying to promote the provision of nesting sites for this species, as so many are being lost to re-development. It is also gathering information on populations to assess whether the species should be listed as of conservation concern.
BBS UK graph
Table of population changes for Swift
Source Period
(yrs)		 Years Plots
(n)		 Change
(%)		 Lower
limit		 Upper
limit		 Alert Comment
BBS UK 9 1994-2003 852 -28 -34 -22 (>25)  
BBS England 9 1994-2003 737 -29 -35 -23 (>25)  
BBS Scotland 9 1994-2003 40 -62 -74 -44 (>50)  
BBS Wales 9 1994-2003 58 -4 -32 35    
BBS acknowledgement
BBS England graph
BBS Scotland graph
BBS Wales graph
Productivity information is not currently available for this species
 
BTO blue divider
BirdWeb logo, click to go to BirdWeb

BTO Home | JNCC Home
BTO, The Nunnery, Thetford, Norfolk IP24 2PU, UK.
 © British Trust for Ornithology (Registered Charity Number 216652).
Terms and Conditions | Privacy Statement          Email:


This report should be cited as:
Baillie, S.R., Marchant, J.H., Crick, H.Q.P., Noble, D.G., Balmer, D.E., Beaven, L.P., Coombes, R.H.,
Downie, I.S., Freeman, S.N., Joys, A.C., Leech, D.I., Raven, M.J., Robinson, R.A. and Thewlis, R.M. (2005)
Breeding Birds in the Wider Countryside: their conservation status 2004.
BTO Research Report No. 385. BTO, Thetford. (http://www.bto.org/birdtrends)

Pages maintained by Susan Waghorn and Iain Downie: Last updated 18 January, 2006