The commitment to Wichelstowe’s wildlife doesn’t stop in the green spaces with swift bricks and bat boxes added to the new homes and hedgehog highways added to gardens.
Barratt Developments have been partnered with the RSPB, the UK’s largest nature conservation charity, since 2014 and have made it their mission to improve the way in which nature and wildlife are incorporated into new communities. A particular focus has been working with the RSPB to boost the number of swifts in the country. With the UK’s population of swifts in serious decline, building new homes for the birds was an important goal of the partnership. An innovative brick, which is also a nesting box for swifts, is now being installed on our developments across the country. The bricks are not just used by swifts and across the country have also been used by house sparrows, house martins, blue tits, great tits, starlings and nuthatches.
The number of swift bricks installed at Wichelstowe will be the same as the number of houses with around 500 already installed. The bricks are added to houses best suited to swifts nesting with some houses having three bricks and the taller apartments housing even more.
Birds have been spotted using the bricks but we’d love residents to log their swift sightings at the website below and let us know if their home is also home to wildlife.
The development show homes feature examples of how residents can add wildlife friendly features to their gardens such as bug hotels, water features and plants to attract wildlife. The Orchards Rise show home was recently awarded a Gold award by the RSPB for its show home garden.
