The incredible story of the Beijing Swift has inspired many people to do incredible things. From the student ‘swift ambassadors’ who wrote to a real estate CEO to persuade him to incorporate the needs of the Beijing Swift into building designs, to the Belgian Ambassador who set up an international cooperation project involving China, Belgium, Botswana, Namibia and South Africa, the Beijing Swift has played a key role in raising awareness of the wonderful biodiversity we have all around us, even in one of the world’s largest capital cities.
A few months ago I was invited to deliver a lecture to students at the International School of Beijing (ISB) about ‘Wild Beijing”. The story of the Beijing Swift always features strongly in my lectures and never fails to ‘wow’ the students when they hear about its incredible migration to southern Africa and back and how this special bird spends almost all of its life airborne – eating, drinking and even sleeping in the air.
After the lecture, one of the students – Francesca – approached me and said that she wanted her school to make and put up some nest boxes to try to attract swifts to the ISB campus. We discussed where to find the designs to make the boxes, tips for the best locations and how to increase the chances of swifts finding the boxes by using attraction calls.
A few weeks later, Francesca contacted me to say that her school, ISB, was planning an “ICON” (Inspire, Passion, Open, Nurture) summit to which students from other schools would be invited. At the summit, various workshops would be held on issues relating to sustainability. Francesca wanted to organise one focusing on the Beijing Swift to share what she and her fellow students were planning at ISB and to encourage students from other schools to follow.
After a short meeting to discuss ideas, Francesca and her friends developed a framework for the workshop that included background about the Beijing Swift, why it was important, and how to build a ‘pitch’ to their school principal. The ISB team also created a ‘starter pack’ for students to take away that would include some ready-made swift boxes, guidance on where to place them, and a speaker loaded with the calls of the swift to help increase the chances of successfully attracting swifts to their campus.
To help inspire the students at the beginning of the workshop, Francesca invited the famous reporter from Beijing TV, Zu Chong (known as “Swift Sister”) to open the event. Zu Chong has a strong affinity with the Beijing Swift, recording a series of video stories about this incredible bird and was even following the swift’s migration from Beijing to southern Africa and back, with plans for a documentary about the places they pass through on their journey.
I am delighted to say that the workshop took place last weekend and was a big success. Students from five schools have committed to making and erecting swift boxes on their campuses and are using their ‘starter packs’ to get cracking!
The timing is perfect. Beijing Swifts will begin to arrive in mid-April, so there are 2-3 weeks to prepare for the forthcoming season. And the next banding session at the Summer Palace is due to take place in June, involving the international team led by the Belgian Ambassador and the Beijing Academy of Forestry and Landscape Architecture. The Ambassador is planning a workshop at his embassy to present the results of the international cooperation and is planning to invite Francesca to present the results of her work at ISB as part of the agenda. What an opportunity for Francesca – a fitting reward for her work to celebrate and protect the Beijing Swift!
Huge thanks to Dick Newell, Lyndon Kearsley, Martine Wauters, Zhang Xiaochuan, Bruno Angelet and Nelson Castiaux for the support.
Title image: Zu Chong of Beijing TV opens the Beijing Swift workshop at ISB (Photo via Zu Chong).