Roscommon Swift Survey 2020 A report by John Meade and Ricky Whelan A project funded by Roscommon County Council and the Department of Culture Heritage and the Gaeltacht Contents 1 Executive Summary ......................................................................................................................... 6 2 Introduction .................................................................................................................................... 8 3 Project Objectives ......................................................................................................................... 10 4 Methodology ................................................................................................................................. 10 5 Data Collection .............................................................................................................................. 12 6 Citizen Science .............................................................................................................................. 12 7 Results ........................................................................................................................................... 13 7.1 Survey Visits .......................................................................................................................... 14 7.2 Swift Nests ............................................................................................................................ 16 8 Site Based Results ......................................................................................................................... 20 8.1 Roscommon Town ................................................................................................................ 21 8.2 Boyle...................................................................................................................................... 29 8.3 Ballaghaderreen .................................................................................................................... 32 8.4 Carrick-on-Shannon .............................................................................................................. 36 8.5 Castlerea ............................................................................................................................... 39 8.6 Strokestown .......................................................................................................................... 43 8.7 Elphin .................................................................................................................................... 46 8.8 Frenchpark ............................................................................................................................ 49 8.9 Athlone (Roscommon side) ................................................................................................... 52 8.10 Knockcroghery ...................................................................................................................... 54 8.11 Ballyfarnon ............................................................................................................................ 56 9 Publicity ......................................................................................................................................... 58 9.1 Community Engagement ...................................................................................................... 62 9.2 Events .................................................................................................................................... 62 10 Discussion ...................................................................................................................................... 63 11 Conclusions & Recommendations ................................................................................................ 65 11.1 General Recommendations .................................................................................................. 65 11.2 Town Specific Recommendations ......................................................................................... 68 Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................................... 69 12 References .................................................................................................................................... 70 Appendices ............................................................................................................................................ 71 Appendix 1 ........................................................................................................................................ 71 12.1 Swift Survey Sheet 2020 ....................................................................................................... 71 12.2 Suggested Policy Wording – County Development/Heritage Plan documents or similar .... 72 12.3 Swift Nest Boxes and Bricks in use (some examples) ........................................................... 73 Page | 2 12.4 BirdWatch Ireland Saving Swifts Guide ................................................................................. 75 Page | 3 List of Figures Figure 1: Swift leaving nest situated under roof tiles. Photo: Mark Taylor ............................................ 8 Figure 2: Locations of towns and villages (green icons) selected for the 2020 Roscommon Swift Survey.................................................................................................................................................... 10 Figure 3: Screenshot of ArcGIS Online Swift sighting mapping tool ..................................................... 12 Figure 4: Swift approaching nest site entrance. Photo: Mike Taylor ................................................... 13 Figure 5: Heat map showing the densities of Swift nests across Roscommon (ArcGIS (Online) ESRI, 2020) ..................................................................................................................................................... 16 Figure 6: Overall number of Swift nests per building/structure type................................................... 17 Figure 7: Number of nests confirmed by building type found in Roscommon localities. .................... 17 Figure 8: Numbers of buildings containing nesting Swifts by locality in Roscommon. ........................ 18 Figure 9: Percentage of Swifts nests per structure/building type in Roscommon localities. ............... 18 Figure 10: Screenshot taken from the online ArcGis Swift Conservation Project record viewer (ArcGis Online) ................................................................................................................................................... 20 Figure 11: Location of confirmed nests in Roscommon Town represented with yellow markers (ArcGIS ESRI Online 2020). .................................................................................................................... 21 Figure 12: Location of confirmed nests in Boyle represented with yellow markers (ArcGIS ESRI Online 2020). .................................................................................................................................................... 29 Figure 13: Locations of Confirmed nests in Ballaghaderreen represented with yellow markers (ArcGIS ESRI Online 2020). ................................................................................................................................. 32 Figure 14: Locations of confirmed nests colonies in Carrick-on-Shannon marked with yellow markers (ArcGIS ESRI Online 2020). .................................................................................................................... 36 Figure 15: Swift information board at Carrick on Shannon Railway Station erected by CoS Tidy Towns Group and Swift Conservation Ireland. ................................................................................................. 38 Figure 16: Locations of confirmed nest colonies in Castlerea marked by yellow symbols (ArcGIS ESRI Online 2020). ......................................................................................................................................... 39 Figure 17: Locations of confirmed nest colonies in Strokestown marked by yellow symbols (ArcGIS ESRI Online 2020). ................................................................................................................................. 43 Figure 18: Locations of confirmed nest colonies in Ballyfarnon) marked by yellow symbols (ArcGIS ESRI Online 2020). ................................................................................................................................. 56 Figure 19: Article on the Roscommon Herald website ......................................................................... 58 Figure 20: Article on Westmeath Independent Webpage .................................................................... 59 Figure 21: Extract form BirdWatch Ireland Ezine (Issue 128) ............................................................... 59 Figure 22: Survey Feature on the BirdWatch Ireland Website ............................................................. 60 Figure 23: Screenshot of BirdWatch Ireland Twitter profile showing the tweet promoting a call for Roscommon Swift records .................................................................................................................... 60