Bruges (Brussels Morning Newspaper) – Farys and Bruges installed 16 swift nest boxes 40 m high on the Sint-Kruis water tower; Dirk De Vos says they also added bat slots, boosting city wildlife without harming the tower.
As VRT News reported, Farys, the company that owns the water tower on Maalsesteenweg in Sint-Kruis, Bruges, sees the recent renovation as a great chance to help nature in the city. They worked with the City of Bruges to put up 16 nest boxes just below the edges of the water tower. These boxes are about 40 meters above the ground.
The nest boxes are made especially for swifts, a type of bird that is having a hard time in Flanders. Officials mentioned that swifts are losing their natural places to nest because old buildings are being fixed or torn down.
These buildings used to have small spaces where swifts could build their nests. Now, those spaces are gone, so the number of swifts is going down. By putting these nest boxes high on the water tower, Farys wants to give the swifts a safe place to live and raise their babies.
How is the Bruges water tower helping swifts and bats thrive?
Dirk De Vos from Farys says that now the nest boxes for the swifts are ready, it is up to nature to do the rest. The boxes give the birds everything they need to find a safe place and raise their young, but the swifts have to find these new homes and decide to use them.
Before putting up the swift nest boxes on the water tower in Sint-Kruis, Bruges, Farys made sure the birds would not cause any problems. They wanted to check if the swifts would make a mess by dropping their droppings on the tower’s walls.
To find out, they looked at a similar project they did before on the water tower in Middelkerke. There, the swifts did not cause any dirt or damage to the building. Because of this, Farys felt sure the swifts would not affect the look of the Sint-Kruis water tower either.
Along with making homes for swifts, the water tower in Sint-Kruis, Bruges, also has special slots in the walls made just for bats. Officials mentioned these slots give the bats a safe place to rest and hide, helping to support more animal life in the city.
