This handcrafted Swift nest box was designed to provide a safe nesting place for one of the UK's fastest declining birds.
Each box was assembled and finished by Bon Volks volunteers during community workshop sessions, using components made from 12mm plywood generously donated by East Kent Timber. The components were CNC-cut by Sebastian Cox Ltd.
But this is more than just a nest box.
The Swift Guardians Project began in 2023, when Bon Volks started working with residents on Dane Park Road to install nest boxes for the colony of swifts that returns to our neighbourhood every summer. These remarkable birds travel thousands of miles from Africa, returning to the very same nesting sites year after year. As buildings are renovated and sealed, however, those nesting places are disappearing.
What started with a handful of local ‘Swift Guardians’ grew into a community movement. In 2025, hundreds of people supported our crowdfunder, enabling us to expand the project and produce even more nesting boxes for homes across Margate.
By purchasing one of these boxes, you’re helping create vital nesting habitat for a red-listed species while supporting a project that brought people together around creativity, conservation and local biodiversity.
By installing a Swift box on your home, you're becoming part of a growing network of Swift Guardians, helping ensure that the unmistakable scream of swifts continues to mark the arrival of summer in Margate for years to come.
Material: 12mm plywood
Dims: 41 × 22 × 21.5 cm (L × D × H)
Weight: Approx. 2.5 kg
Collection: Bon Volks, Margate
Delivery: Available (select 'Swift box shipping' at checkout)
Optional installation (Margate only): purchase here
Swifts may not occupy a new nest box immediately. It can take one or more seasons for them to discover it, and this is completely normal. Once they do, they often return to the same nesting place year after year.
This handcrafted Swift nest box was designed to provide a safe nesting place for one of the UK's fastest declining birds.
Each box was assembled and finished by Bon Volks volunteers during community workshop sessions, using components made from 12mm plywood generously donated by East Kent Timber. The components were CNC-cut by Sebastian Cox Ltd.
But this is more than just a nest box.
The Swift Guardians Project began in 2023, when Bon Volks started working with residents on Dane Park Road to install nest boxes for the colony of swifts that returns to our neighbourhood every summer. These remarkable birds travel thousands of miles from Africa, returning to the very same nesting sites year after year. As buildings are renovated and sealed, however, those nesting places are disappearing.
What started with a handful of local ‘Swift Guardians’ grew into a community movement. In 2025, hundreds of people supported our crowdfunder, enabling us to expand the project and produce even more nesting boxes for homes across Margate.
By purchasing one of these boxes, you’re helping create vital nesting habitat for a red-listed species while supporting a project that brought people together around creativity, conservation and local biodiversity.
By installing a Swift box on your home, you're becoming part of a growing network of Swift Guardians, helping ensure that the unmistakable scream of swifts continues to mark the arrival of summer in Margate for years to come.
Material: 12mm plywood
Dims: 41 × 22 × 21.5 cm (L × D × H)
Weight: Approx. 2.5 kg
Collection: Bon Volks, Margate
Delivery: Available (select 'Swift box shipping' at checkout)
Optional installation (Margate only): purchase here
Swifts may not occupy a new nest box immediately. It can take one or more seasons for them to discover it, and this is completely normal. Once they do, they often return to the same nesting place year after year.
