Earth Day brings 'twittering' to Hills Road 

Today (22 April) is Earth Day and from until the summer you may hear the twittering of swifts if, in the early hours or at dusk, you are passing by St John’s Church on Hills Road, Cambridge.

The tweeting sound is not, sadly, because swifts are nesting nearby - it is because there is hope that one day they will do so. The Eco-Church group at St John’s are doing their best to help the threatened birds by providing a row of special nesting boxes along the eves of the church building. Recorded swift calls have just been switched on to play at key times of the day, between now and July. The aim is to give confidence to passing swifts that the boxes are a safe site for nesting. One of the reasons that the birds are listed as a high conservation priority is because their traditional nesting sites in the crevices of old buildings are becoming scarce.

The swift boxes are not the only wildlife ‘home’ being offered in the grounds of St John’s. There is also a multi-layered bug house, a frog ramp in a shallow pond, and a hedgehog house made by the Brownies. Wild flower areas are also being developed to encourage insects and plant biodiversity in the plot, which is open daily for the public to walk through.

Revd Nell Whiscombe, Curate at St John’s and Chair of its Eco-Church group explains:

“At St John's, we are trying to become more sustainable and environmentally friendly, both in church and in our lives. One of the Church of England’s Five Marks of Mission is 'to strive to safeguard the integrity of creation and sustain and renew the life of the earth' and this is our aim. We also want to raise awareness of how we can care for and steward God's creation within our congregation and local area.”

The Church recently hosted a screening and discussion of Tony Eva’s award winning film Pure Clean Water, which highlights the increasing danger to Cambridge’s ecology caused by rapid urban development.
 
Revd Nell adds:

“We are working towards the A Rocha Eco-Church Silver Award, and we are currently organising some community events such as litter picks and gardening days, as well as planning our September Eco-festival.”

To keep in touch with details of Eco-Church events at St John’s Hills Road, which include a Plant Sale on Sunday 12 May from 11.15am to 12.30pm, check out the Calendar on this website or contact St John's via office@stjohntheevangelistcambridge.org. 

More information: 

• Swifts were designated a high conservation priority in the 2021 UK Conservation Status Report. See https://www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/swift
• Read more about the A Rocha Eco-Church programme https://ecochurch.arocha.org.uk/
• Read more about Earth Day https://www.earthday.org/earth-day-2024/