We are now progressing with some of the Swift boxes in church towers that have been on the list for a while and have got delayed due to Covid. First up is the CofE Parish Church in New Milton.
During the 1260’s there was a chapel on this site but by 1403 there was a field in Milton called ‘Church Furlong’ indicating that Milton had progressed from having a chapel to being a village with a church. In 1832 the original church was pulled down, apart from the tower, and rebuilt with a brick nave and chancel.
There are just two louvre panels in the tower, one facing south and the other facing west (above). In order to maintain ventilation in the tower we decided to install boxes in just the lower halves of each panel. After a visit with two templates last month we returned this week to install two cabinets with a total of eight boxes and a call player.
Roger removed the lower section of the mesh so that the birds could fly straight in and then screwed the boxes in place.
… the boxes were then duly numbered with a felt tip pen.
Our thanks are due to Bob Lord and the Churchwardens for the arrangements and to Bob for his generous donation towards the cost of the boxes. And of course to Roger for his hard work and skill in making and fixing the boxes.
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