By Rebecca Rees

Our 2026 Hurst Rethink Swift and House Martin nesting project is well underway for spring 2026 with Phase 3 seeing the installation of 22 House Martin nest cups and a further 12 Swift nest boxes.

This year, we decided to focus on supporting the House Martins who have a small stable colony of 12 natural nests along the High Street. By putting up artificial nest cups we are giving the returning birds permanent nesting sites and this will encourage them to stay and boost their breeding numbers. It saves the birds a lot of time and energy after their long migration that would otherwise be used gathering mud to build their nests.

Local ecological expert Paul Stevens has spent a busy two days in the village in early April fitting the house martin and swift nest boxes. We were lucky to see the arrival of the first house martins on 9th April, who immediately started visiting their nests above the row of shops on the High Street.

The 12 swift boxes have been fitted to houses within the successful swift nesting area to provide more nests for the years to come as we expect the colony to continue to expand across Western Road, Cuckfield Road, Weald Close and Wilderness Road. Since the project started in 2023, we have f itted 35 swift boxes. It is now said to be one of the most successful swift nesting projects in the county.

We would like to thank all the householders who have shown so much enthusiasm for the project by agreeing to host nest boxes on their houses and we are very grateful to the parish council and Sussex Ornithological Society (SOS) who provided grants to help us fund the nests.