Thank you for being part of The Feather Speech campaign by actively helping birds. The following information will help you construct your email to your MP. If you have any queries or get stuck, or if your MP replies with ‘YES’, please email me at thefeatherspeech@gmail.com
Very best wishes, Hannah Bourne-Taylor
Contacting your MP check list:
- To find your MP’s email address/contact details go to think link: Find MPs – MPs and Lords – UK Parliament
- Remember to add your number and address at the end of your letter to make sure the MP’s office replies
- Make sure you ask your MP to take part in the debate of the petition Make swift bricks compulsory in new housing to help red-listed birds – Petitions (parliament.uk), scheduled for Monday 10th July, 4.30pm, Westminster Hall
- Add a line about why you care and anything about your local swifts/birds that is relevant
- Attach the briefing note to the email (see DOWNLOAD button below)
Add some or all of the facts below:
- The birds who share our walls are in trouble: 4 species who rely on holes in our walls to nest (swifts, House martins, House sparrows and starlings) are all on the red-list of highest conservation concern, the term ‘red list’ is defined by the need for ‘urgent action’ and with a breeding UK pair decline of 60% between 1995-2020 for swifts, these iconic birds face national extinction well within our lifetime unless we act now.
- These birds are united in their plight due to us inadvertently blocking their nesting sites on an unprecedented and national scale thanks to demolishment, house repairs and the push for insulation (soffits etc).
- Swift bricks are a straight forward, minimal cost, proven conservation measure: they sit flush to the wall of a new dwelling, and are permanent, safe and sustainable homes for these species and other small urban birds, posing no conflict with our own insulation needs.
- Without swift bricks in new development, there is no cavity nesting habitat for 4 red listed urban birds in new development
- This successful petition Make swift bricks compulsory in new housing to help red-listed birds – Petitions (parliament.uk) and its debate on 10th July, seeks a national policy on swift bricks because nowhere near enough have them have been installed to significantly help halt the declines of these birds.
- This campaign has been worked on for a year and is unanimously supported by leading experts including the RSPB, founded on the extensive building industry guidelines and the 1:1 ratio of swift bricks : new dwellings recommended by the British Standard Institute.