Hi! I am Cally, Founder of NES Swifts (formerly Huntly Swift Group) a voluntary group, protecting Swifts, Swallows and Martins, our incredible summer visitors around the Northeast of Scotland.

One of our special nest protection projects happened in my local town of Huntly when i was involved in protecting a Common Swift nesting colony during a huge building refurbishment. I am delighted to say, we saved the colony by reinstating the nest sites discreetly in to the listed building, we even added more nest sites too!

Swifts returned as hoped and in 2025 we set up a Swift Webcam inside one of the nest boxes and streamed the activity to a screen in the visitor area of the newly renovated community use building, for visitors to the cafe to enjoy. We eagerly awaited our swifts return and they successfully raised two chicks! The webcam was a great success within the community and way beyond, helping us to show what can be done to protect a red-listed bird and letting people know how fantastic nature is!

We are raising funds towards a large wall mounted TV, to upgrade from our small monitor of last year and allow people to enjoy and appreciate a clearer view of 'our' swift family when they return in May 2026. Thank you!