Welcome to your online guide to visiting the world of wildlife!
Logo Discover Animals - Retina

Sign up to the Discover Animals newsletter:

Swift boxes swoop in to Hertfordshire schools


Paradise Wildlife Park in Hertfordshire is delivering a donation of a sustainably made swift box to local schools in the community as part of a project called the Big Bird Box Build.

One of its largest habitat builds, Sun Bear Heights and Jaguar Jungle, is set to open this Easter and the zoo saw this as an opportunity to minimise waste products whilst creating additional habitats for native species. The Big Bird Box Build aims to reach over 350 Hertfordshire schools, with packs including a swift box made from offcuts of wood from the habitat construction sites, educational activities and inventive ways to attract swifts onto school sites.

One of the swift boxes in place

Swifts are a migratory bird native to the UK that have seen a dramatic decline in recent years. The RSPB states that the UK has seen numbers plummeting, with a 53% decrease between 1995 and 2016. Paradise Wildlife Park is the UK’s sole representative for the SSC and IUCN ‘Centre for Species Survival’.

The Hertfordshire-based zoo has already started to deliver the packs to schools, receiving a lot of excitement from children and teachers, and just in time for the return of swifts from their migratory patterns. A spokesperson stated: ‘As we begin our transition to Hertfordshire Zoo in April 2024, we want to bring our community on this journey with us and to share our knowledge. Together we can achieve great action in animal conservation.’ 

Children from a local school pose with the swift box

You can keep following the story and project via Paradise Wildlife Park’s website and social media channels.


Swift Box

Hand-made in Wales, this swift box is made using locally sourced larch, making it a 100% natural, safe environment for swifts. Swifts are currently in decline and many researchers think this is partly due to a reduction of safe places for them nest on their return the UK. This sturdy, all natural box will look great for years to come, ensuring returning birds always have a safe place to stay after that long flight from Africa.

£26.90

Shop now

Filed under: News, Newsletter

Leave a Comment

* 1+6=?