Common swift populations continue to decline across Europe and the UK. The combination of breeding site loss, aerial insect reduction and climate change creates compounded welfare and conservation pressure.
Swift chicks starving during cold, wet summers experience progressive weakness and hypothermia. Adults who cannot find insects must increase foraging range, extending their absence from the nest and increasing chick cold exposure. The loss of nesting sites in renovated buildings is often irreversible — swift populations take decades to recover from site loss because swifts are long-lived and highly site-faithful.