RENOWNED Warrington Ornithologist Brian Martin is about to realise a lifelong ambition of getting an area of Westy designated as a Cheshire Local Wildlife Trust Site for its Swift colony.
His evidence, recorded over several decades of bird counts and associated records, was submitted a while ago and has now been verified. He has the support of Warrington Borough Council’s area manager for wildlife sites, Angus Lord, local housing association Torus and the Cheshire Wildlife Trust (CWT). Two colleagues, Karl Green, who makes swift boxes and Wayne McLaughlin, who helps him install them, have been working to halt the national decline by creating new homes and putting them high up on house walls in the Westy community. Brian describes the project as a great collaboration.
You can read a detailed account of Brian’s work on the June 2025 Cheshire Wildlife Trust (CWT) web site entitled “Saving Swifts in the Heart of Warrington”. The article discusses the decline in swift numbers and his attempt to reverse that trend through the installation of swift boxes.
This project has put Warrington firmly on the Cheshire Ornithological Map, just as Brian and the Woolston Eyes Conservation Group did decades ago by placing The Woolston Wetland Eyes Reserve (Site of Scientific Interest) as one of the leading Wetland Reserves in the UK. Brian has played a key role in both sites/projects as chief recorder.
Geoff Settle Chair of Warrington Nature Conservation Forum (WNCF) said: “I took over chairmanship of the WNCF from Brian about 15 years ago, and he has been like a mentor for me. He has just self-published a book “Woolston Eyes from Wasteland to Wetland,” about how he and his colleagues created and developed the 120-acre SSSI Woolston Wetland Reserve out of the Manchester Ship Canal deposits.
“The environment at the Eyes reserve is a fantastic feeding ground for the Westy swifts during the day, and it’s just a short flight to their nests and chicks at night and has enabled them to become perhaps the largest swift colony, in Cheshire. All this activity takes place during the months of May when they arrive back from Africa and lasts until they migrate back in August.”
Brian said: “Swifts are an aerial species and need high, protected locations for nesting. They can squeeze into very small gaps. The 1930s Westy housing stock is an ideal habitat for the birds because they can nest in the cavities under roof eaves or in holes in the older buildings. The modern style of eaves construction doesn’t have the space they need to build their nests in. This is a major factor in their decline and is not helped by the modern practice of covering up the eaves in PVC.
A swift box
“I’m now in my 85th year and completing this project is top of my bucket list. People are used to seeing Karl, Wayne, and me standing on corners of the Westy estate with our binoculars trained on the sky, marvelling at the displays and tracking them to their roost. The locals always spend time chatting to us about the swifts during summer evenings, watching what Geoff has termed a Red Arrow display at great speed.
“When people understand what we are doing, several ask Karl if they can have a swift box on the side of their house. I feel that we have become part of the community in fact, Karl and Wayne are Westy Lads born and bred. We are confident that come the autumn swift colon,y this will be formally designated as a Cheshire Wildlife Trust Site for Swifts.”
Geoff added: “Brian has appeared on BBC documentaries over the years telling his tales, for example, the BBC series, the Urban Jungle, when he showed David Lindo (aka Bird Man) the swifts of Westy (circa 2010). In some ways, he is like Warrington’s answer to David Attenborough or Chris Packham. In fact, he persuaded Chris to become the Woolston Eyes Patron.
“He is a very innovative man and has tried to get swifts nesting in St Elphin’s Church Tower by installing swift boxes at great height with mating calls of the birds. Then there has been a specially imported swift tower from Ireland, erected on the Centre Park business estate. These projects haven’t been as successful as the Westy one, but I hope he keeps trying. In anticipation, I have painted a watercolour of swifts flying around St Elphin’s tower, after all it is the Mayor’s Parish Church, and I know it’s going to a good swift home.”
1 Comment
Brian is a great conservationist and ophthalmologist who has been a leading example of what can be achieved through dedication, passion, enthusiasm and hard work.