Swift garden at Hampton Court show highlights at-risk ‘symbol of summer skies’

The RHS has teamed up with the RSPB for the first time to create a show garden focused on the birds at Hampton Court Palace Garden Festival.

A group of swifts in flight in a blue sky — Swifts spend almost all their lives in flight (Ben Andrew/RSPB/PA)

A display highlighting dramatic declines of swifts and how households can help the “symbol of summer skies” will feature at this year’s Hampton Court Palace Garden Festival.

The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) which puts on the annual festival has teamed up with wildlife charity the RSPB for the first time to create a show garden focused on swifts, supported by comedian Bill Bailey.

Migrating 3,400 miles to Africa and back each year, the birds spend almost all their lives in flight – eating, drinking, mating and even sleeping on the wing – and depend on healthy insect populations and suitable nesting sites for their breeding season in the UK, conservationists say.

But the species has seen numbers plummet by 68% between 1995 and 2023, and they are “red-listed” over concerns about their survival.

A close up of a juvenile swift — Swift numbers have plummeted over the last 30 years (Handout/PA)

The swift garden aims to raise awareness of the species’ declines, as well as celebrating their extraordinary migrations, and representing habitats frequented by swifts in the UK including meadows, woodlands and gardens.

It will promote diverse, insect-friendly planting to show gardeners how they can support the birds and other wildlife, and feature sculptural representations of nesting sites, such as “swift bricks” which can be introduced into homes and other buildings to give them somewhere to breed.

Plants in the garden include field maples, common limes, teasel, catmint and devil’s bit scabious, which all support and attract insects.

Lilly Gomm, landscape architect and garden designer who is designing the show garden, said: “These magnificent birds are a true symbol of summer skies and they need our help.

“By showcasing habitats rich in biodiversity and the small changes we can all make, like planting insect-friendly flowers or installing swift boxes, I hope visitors will feel inspired to take action for wildlife in their own gardens.”

Common swift poking its head out of specially created nesting brick on the side of a new build house, — A common swift pokes its head out of a specially created nesting brick on the side of a new-build house (Ben Andrew/RSPB/PA)

Bailey, an RHS ambassador, said swifts were “majestic birds”.

“I’m delighted to be joining forces with the RSPB and the RHS to bring attention to these incredible aerial acrobats, whose presence is such a joyful part of summer,” he said.

“Their dramatic decline is deeply worrying but there’s still a lot we can do to help.

“This garden is not only a celebration of swifts but also a timely reminder that by making our homes and gardens more wildlife-friendly, we can all play a part in securing their future.”

RSPB executive director Emma Marsh said the garden was “a great opportunity for us to demonstrate to visitors not only how incredible swifts are, but to highlight the very real peril they currently face, due to habitat loss and therefore their homes, and declining insect populations which means they have less food available”.

“We’ve lost more than 60% of the UK’s swifts in the last 30 years,” she said.

“They need our help urgently and this amazing garden will show people how they can take action themselves.”

She added that all gardeners working together to support wildlife would make a huge difference for swifts and other birds.