Some great news for Island nature and testament to the unique Isle of Wight mix of expertise and collaboration, with new habitat for Swifts and Sparrows… thanks to wildlife experts and the team at Sandown Town Hall.
Sandown’s Town Hall, built in 1869 for community use, social events and more, closed in its last iteration as a youth club in 2017 and was nearing dereliction by its 150th anniversary.
Grade II building restored
Following locally-led momentum, in 2023, the Isle of Wight Council secured £3.1 million in funding for the restoration of the Grade II listed building and towards delivering an exciting new youth programme through Community Action Isle of Wight.
This heritage asset occupies a large area in central Sandown, and its renovation offered opportunities to both retain and enhance the space for wildlife, right at the heart of town.
On the verge of extinction
As the Island’s Local Nature Recovery Strategy highlights, many species of wildlife rely entirely on the human built environment for nesting and roosting.
Some, like Swifts and House Martins, are on the verge of local extinction as modern building techniques and materials such as plastic fascias and soffits and highly insulated and sealed roofs and walls mean that there are fewer and fewer places available for them to nest.
Older and heritage buildings can be invaluable in supporting remaining populations.
Home to Swifts and House Sparrows
Swifts and House Sparrows have both nested in the roof of the brick cottage at the Town Hall for many years. Both species are on the Red List in the UK because of huge declines in breeding numbers, so provision needed to be made after renovation to help them continue to nest at this important site.
Isle of Wight and Hampshire Swift conservation experts, Caroline Dudley, Roger Maynard and Tim Norriss were called on to help and, at the end of January, specially made nestboxes were installed on the front of the brick cottage for these two species. House Sparrows prefer to nest in the more spacious Swift boxes than traditional sparrow nestbox terraces so the one design of box suits both species.
Dudley: This has been a great collaborative effort
Caroline Dudley, of Wight Swifts, explained,
“Many thanks to Tim and Roger of Hampshire Swifts for visiting the Island to install nine single nestboxes and a double on the brick cottage at Sandown Town Hall.
“This has been a great collaborative effort between Hampshire Swifts, the IW Council and contractors ERMC Ltd and MCM Construction, and The Common Space.
“We hope that some House Sparrows will soon take to the boxes and show the Swifts that suitable nesting accommodation has been provided when they return from Africa in early May.
“The brick cottage supports the largest known nesting colony of Swifts in Sandown, and we want to see the birds continue to do well here.”
Boyd: A ‘champion’ for many other species
Ian Boyd, Director at The Common Space who requested the Town Hall be listed as an asset of community value in 2021 and has continued to support the Council team and Community Action IW on its redevelopment, explains:
“The Isle of Wight’s Local Nature Recovery Strategy marked out Swifts as a ‘champion’ for many other species featured across LNRS guidance.
“This means we can bring together a cluster of species largely dependent on human buildings into the work of multi-species place-making.”
Follow updates
Wight Swifts will continue to monitor the site for Swifts and House Sparrows as part of ongoing research. For more information on Wight Swifts, email Caroline Dudley at [email protected] and join the group Wight Swifts on Facebook.
Look out for Swifts as Species of the Month with @iwatchwildlife.
The Bay Youth Project is fully under way and more exciting uses of the Hall are coming up too. To find out more about the activities for young people at Sandown Town Hall, follow the Bay Youth Project @bayyouthproject on Facebook and Instagram!
News shared by Claire on behalf of The Common Space. Ed
