Scotland just became the first UK nation to force every new home to include nesting places for swifts, passing a law that campaigners are calling a game-changer for one of Britain’s fastest-declining birds.
Holyrood Votes Overwhelmingly to Save the Screaming Summer Visitors
MSPs backed Scottish Green Mark Ruskell’s amendment to the Housing (Scotland) Bill on Tuesday evening with cross-party support. The new rule requires swift bricks or similar nest spaces in all new dwellings “where reasonably practical and appropriate”.
Environment minister Gillian Martin told the chamber the move was essential because swifts have crashed by more than 60 per cent in Scotland since 1995 and are now red-listed. “These iconic birds were once everywhere in our towns and cities,” she said. “This simple measure can help bring them back.”
Ruskell described the vote as “a proud moment” and said he looked forward to every new Scottish street echoing with screaming swifts again.
What Exactly Is a Swift Brick and Why Does It Matter?
A swift brick is a hollow block about the size of a house brick with a small entrance tunnel. It costs £25-£40 and is built into walls during construction. Swifts, house martins, starlings and even bats use them.
Modern buildings and retrofitted insulation have sealed up the holes and cracks swifts once used in older houses. The RSPB estimates Britain has lost millions of nesting sites in the last thirty years.
One swift brick can support a pair that raises two or three chicks each year. Multiply that by thousands of new homes and you create entire new colonies.
In Gibraltar, where swift bricks have been required for decades, the local population first stabilised and then grew significantly, according to environment minister Prof John Cortes.
England Still Refuses to Make Them Law Despite Years of Pleas
The decision exposes the stark difference north and south of the border.
In England, campaigners including Hannah Bourne-Taylor and Lord Goldsmith have fought for four years to get swift bricks mandated. Labour rejected mandatory rules last year and instead added them to non-binding planning guidance.
A University of Sheffield study found that even when planners ask for bird boxes, 75 per cent are never installed by the time people move in.
Bourne-Taylor reacted to Scotland’s vote with delight: “Scotland has stood united for birds. This is a landmark victory. Come on England, Wales and Northern Ireland, follow the leader.”
Twelve-Month Countdown Begins Now
The Scottish requirement will not start immediately. A year-long consultation will set the exact building standard and decide when bricks are “not reasonably practical”, for example on very exposed coastal sites.
Builders have welcomed the clarity. “We already fit them on many projects,” said Homes for Scotland chief Jane Wood. “Making them standard will remove arguments and speed everything up.”
The rule will apply to all new homes, extensions over a certain size, and non-residential buildings where walls are suitable.
A Small Brick, A Giant Leap
On a quiet estate in Fife next summer, a young family might step outside and hear the sky rip open with the wild scream of swifts racing overhead for the first time in decades.
That sound, once the soundtrack of British summers, had been fading fast.
Thanks to Scotland’s decision this week, it is coming back, one £35 brick at a time.
Every new Scottish house will now carry a tiny invitation: come nest here, come scream here, come live.
The rest of the UK is being shown how easy it is to choose hope over extinction.
What do you think, should England finally make swift bricks mandatory too? Drop your thoughts below.
