Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will make an assessment of the adequacy of the conservation status of the swift.

The UK swift population is estimated at 59,000 pairs (2016) Swift population trends are monitored annually by the BTO/JNCC/RSPB Breeding Bird Survey (BBS), which recorded a decline of 62% between 1995 and 2021, and of 40% between 2011 and 2021. Due to the declines recorded by BBS, swifts were added to the Red List of Birds of Conservation Concern in the UK in 2021 and are considered ‘Endangered’ at GB level.

Natural England is currently undertaking a review of the conservation interventions needed to support the recovery of over 100 of our most threatened bird species, including the swift.