Thanks for your warm welcome!
Harrybongo, in Germany it is forbidden to destroy the nests of swifts or swallows, and if a refurbishment of a house is planned the owners need to wait until the birds finish their breeding season. If the nests cannot be conserved, in exchange alternatives need to be installed. Unfortunately many people do not know this rule (or ignore it on purpose). Common and alpine swifts are extremely bound to their breeding area and return reliably every year - so losing their nests is a disaster for the former residents. Though it is so easy to install nesting boxes which common swifts easily accept. When they return the following year they are very enduring in searching the entrance of their old nesting site, so if a proper nesting box is placed near the locked entrance most likely they will move in.
Perhaps you already know the fantastic web page of
Swift Conservation where many examples and projects are collected, and to the German-speaking users I would like to recommend the page
Mauersegler ansiedeln (part of a forum that I help to maintain - hopefully it is allowed to put the links, if not please delete them).
