\n The swifts, which are on the UK\u2019s red list of birds of conservation concern, make a return journey of several thousand miles to Africa each winter – before returning to Brighton for the summer to nest and raise their young.\n<\/p>\n
\n Resident Sue Craig, 79, visited the site on the morning of February 19.\n<\/p>\n
\n She was able to confirm that at least five of the 32 swift boxes on the site were behind scaffolding covered by blue netting, she said.\n<\/p>\n
\n Swifts live almost their entire lives on the wing.\u00a0When they return to Brighton, they will fly directly into their roosts without setting foot on the ground – assuming they are able to access them freely.\n<\/p>\n
\n They are also site-faithful, meaning they will not just move to a nest somewhere else.\n<\/p>\n
\n Fearing the colony could be “devastated” should they not be able to roost, she said: \u201cSwifts are agile and acrobatic so if there was even a metre or less around each swift box free of netting then they might get away with it.\n<\/p>\n
\n “They don\u2019t give a toss about humans being around, they just need access to their homes.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n Brighton-based photographer Steve Geliot is also an admirer of the birds, describing them as an \u201cabsolutely magical\u201d species.\n<\/p>\n
\n Two of Geliot\u2019s photographs were recently \u201chighly commended\u201d by judges in the 2026 South Downs National Park astrophotography competition.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cThat end of Brighton is a hotspot for swifts and it\u2019s wonderful,\u201d he said.\u00a0\u201cIt would destroy them if they can\u2019t nest.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n Blocking access to the nests could also be a potential wildlife crime if the netting is still up when the swifts return.\u00a0Under the 1981 Wildlife and Countryside Act, it is prohibited to \u201cintentionally or recklessly [\u2026] obstruct or prevent any wild bird from using its nest.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n Craig, who has been monitoring the swift colony since 2022, said she has watched bird populations in Brighton decline more generally since she moved here in the 1990s.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cI used to watch my own little murmuration of starlings while peeling carrots at the kitchen sink.\u00a0“That\u2019s all gone now, and that broke my heart.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n Sussex Community NHS Trust, which oversees the site, said: “We are carrying out essential external repairs to some of our buildings, which requires temporary scaffolding and netting.\n<\/p>\n
\n “We are aware of the swift boxes on the site and are taking steps to manage the works with this in mind.\n<\/p>\n
\n “Repairs to buildings with swift boxes are due to finish in March, ahead of the birds\u2019 expected return.\n<\/p>\n
\n “If any unforeseen delays occur, we will be working to ensure the swifts can access their nesting sites.”\n<\/p>\n
\n The swifts, however, are soon likely to be threatened again – this time by the redevelopment of the hospital site.\n<\/p>\n
\n The trust announced plans in 2018 to sell the site to private developers to fund a new community health hub.\n<\/p>\n
\n As the plans stalled, a community campaign sprung up calling for the land to remain in public hands.\n<\/p>\n
\n The group – made up of local residents and housing, environmental, and heritage campaigners – hope to see it used for social and key worker housing while protecting biodiversity and the historical character of the site.\n<\/p>\n
\n The community campaign will hold its next public meeting at the Brighton Friend\u2019s Meeting House on Monday, March 30, at 7pm.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The swifts, which are on the UK\u2019s red list of birds of conservation concern, make a return journey…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":437762,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[90,56,54,55,4407],"class_list":["post-437761","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-science","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/437761","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=437761"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/437761\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/437762"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=437761"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=437761"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=437761"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}