Newsletter / Blog
2011-06-04 Swift Tower Cambridge
In the UK, housing developers make contributions to a fund, known as
Section 106 funds, for the purposes of financing urban art. Cambridge
City Council came up with the brilliant idea of making an allocation to
build a Swift Tower on Logan's Meadow Nature Reserve (Pye Fen) which
would be not only an attractive piece of static urban art, but also a
dynamic piece of living kinetic art as the Swifts display in the summer
with their spectacular screaming flypasts.
Andrew Merritt,
an upcoming young London artist was commissioned to produce a range of
designs, one of which, inspired by the African sun, was chosen by a
committee of local councillors and Swift experts Jake Allsop and Dick
Newell.
The African Sun comprises 221 boxes held together in a supporting steel
framework. Each box can be removed individually for maintenance
purposes. The boxes, made of 20mm thick treated pine, are 22cm x 22cm in
cross section and with lengths ranging from 50 to 90 cm, so there is
plenty of space inside each one for nesting Swifts.
However, although the 221 boxes provide a stunning visual effect, it
would not be sensible to have such a large number of identical front
entrances.
It
is necessary that each entrance can be individually recognised by the
birds, so there will be only 60 entrances in the north-facing front of
the sun, arranged pseudo-randomly and also in locations chosen with
minimal exposure to the sun on the south-facing back. In order to
further help the Swifts recognise individual boxes, 3 shapes of canopy
will be placed in a random arrangement above each entrance. The
variation in colour across the face of the sun will also help
recognition - Swifts have extremely good colour perception. There are a
further 33 entrances on the lower back and sides, in more shaded
locations, with 10 boxes allocated to bats in the upper part of the
back, as bats prefer warmer roosting places.
In order to attract the birds, a 'bird scarer' device, programmed with
Swift calls, will be used. It may well take more than one season to
attract the birds, but once the first occupants are established, the
colony should grow steadily through the years, providing a sensational
attraction for Cambridge residents and visitors.
Local school children are involved in the project with a range of
activities, including feathering nest concaves for the tower.
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