OXFORD is to become England's first "Swift City" under a major project by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds.

The charity and its partners have been given £83,700 from the Heritage Lottery Fund for a two-year project to maintain swift nesting sites in the city and add 300 new sites onto new and existing buildings.

The iconic migrating bird, which lands only to breed and can fly 560 miles a day, nests almost exclusively in urban areas but numbers in the UK have fallen by 38 per cent since 1994.

One possible cause of the decline is thought to be loss of nesting sites, as old buildings are renovated and new builds do not include spaces for them to nest.

The RSPB project will research Oxford’s present swift populations and nest sites and work with builders and planners to maintain them and create 300 new sites on buildings.

Starting in January, the RSPB will work alongside partners including Oxford University, the Oxford University Museum of Natural History, Oxford City Council and Thames Valley Environmental Records Centre (TVERC).

It will also work with the Berks, Bucks and Oxon Wildlife Trust (BBOWT) which had swift nest boxes installed at its Littlemore headquarters in April this year.

As part of the scheme a showpiece "Swift tower" is planned which will combine new nest site with a public art project.

But the charity said it will need volunteers to help monitor swift numbers.

Charlotte Kinnear, local RSPB conservation officer, said: "Like much urban wildlife, swifts are under pressure in the UK.

"This funding gives us the opportunity to study swift nesting and feeding habits more closely and to involve the local community to monitor and protect them.

"We hope that as well as improving the outlook for swifts, lessons will be learnt which can be applied to species recovery plans for other urban wildlife."

Oxford has a long scientific and cultural association with swifts: the swift colony nesting at Oxford University Museum of Natural History has been intensively studied by the Edward Grey Institute of Ornithology since 1948; one of the longest continuous studies of a single bird species in the world.

The museum's education officer Chris Jarvis said: "We already provide an extensive educational programme for local schools and are very much looking forward to extending this work with the Swift City project.

"It will also enable us to introduce more children to our resident swifts during the summer."