News Saari Residence 02.06.2026 Biodiversity Work Brings Bird Hotels and Nesting Sites to Saari Residence Photo: Jussi Virkkumaa Share: We have recently installed swift hotels for endangered birds in the manor area as part of our EcoCompass environmental certification and the related biodiversity work. At the same time, we have also added nesting sites for hedgehogs and bats to the area. The manor has long been home to a large population of swifts, but the renovation of the old stone barn, machinery hall, and grain dryer, which began in early 2026, has blocked the birds’ access to their old nests. Under Finnish nature conservation law, it is prohibited to damage or relocate nests of protected species that are repeatedly used, so we applied for and received a special exemption permit from the Finnish Supervisory Agency to relocate and remove the nests due to the renovation. The common swift, barn swallow, and house martin, which nest in the area, all use the same nests year after year, so we ordered artificial nests and hotels from Puupioni to replace the old ones. Photo: Jussi Virkkumaa The Benefits of Artificial Nests Swifts’ nests are often less sturdy than human-built ones. They can fall to the ground and are also easier targets for predators raiding eggs and chicks. Artificial nests provide swifts with a safer and more durable nesting site. Environmental changes also make nest-building more difficult for swifts, as they may not always find suitable material near their familiar nesting sites. Swifts need moist, muddy patches for building nests. You can help the birds, for example, by maintaining a wet mud hollow in an open spot during the nesting season. The hotel erected on the pasture near the barn can house 56 pairs of common swifts and rises to over 6 metres above ground on a pole. The hotel, located in another pasture area, has 60 sand martin nests. We hope it will attract the critically endangered sand martin to nest in the area for the first time in 40 years. It can take swifts several years to find new nesting sites, so the swift hotels play recordings of swift song to encourage the birds to find their new homes as quickly as possible. During the winter, we have also installed individual artificial nests for barn swallows and house martins on the estate buildings. In addition to artificial nests, narrow nest ledges can be installed on buildings to support swifts’ nesting. You can find good guidance on this, among other places, on the BirdLife Finland website. We are now eagerly waiting to see when the swifts arrive and whether they find their new homes.