The councillor Joan Simonet, who attended the release of these birds at Mallorca Cathedral, highlighted the important role played by this species in maintaining ecosystems and thanked the public for their cooperation in their recovery.

The Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and the Natural Environment, Joan Simonet, accompanied by the Director General of the Natural Environment and Forest Management, Anna Torres, and the Director of the Environment and Animal Welfare of Palma City Council, Sebastià Pujol, today took part in the release of around twenty swifts recovered at the centre of the Consortium for the Recovery of Fauna of the Balearic Islands (COFIB). The setting chosen for the release was the terraces of Mallorca Cathedral. The event was also attended by the manager of COFIB, Miquel Puig.

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The Regional Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and the Natural Environment releases around twenty swifts recovered from the COFIB

During the release, councillor Simonet stressed “the important role played by these insectivorous species in the maintenance of our ecosystems”. He also took the opportunity to thank all the COFIB staff for their work, as well as “the essential collaboration of the population in the recovery of this species”.

In this regard, the director general of the Natural Environment also wanted to highlight the efforts made to protect this species by the different wildlife recovery centres in the Balearic Islands. “In 2023, a total of 782 specimens were brought in throughout the Balearic Islands, of which 340 were recovered and released into their natural habitat,” Torres explained. This year, to date, a total of 474 swifts have been brought in, of which 104 have already been released back into the wild.

Between June and July, it is common for the young swifts to fall out of the nest in an attempt to escape the heat, as they do not yet know how to fly. Once they arrive at the COFIB’s recovery centre, the technical staff is in charge of raising the birds until they reach the right size and weight to be able to fly and return to the wild.

Swifts (Apus apus) are protected insectivorous birds that come to the Balearic Islands during the spring and summer to breed, as they spend the rest of the year in Africa. These birds are highly specialised in the aerial environment and, thanks to their aerodynamics, can spend their lives flying, only touching the ground for nesting. Moreover, it is a species that consumes a large number of flying insects, making it a great ally in pest control.

However, it should be remembered that it is a species listed under the Special Protection Regime in Royal Decree 139/2011, which develops the List of Wildlife Species under the Special Protection Regime and the Spanish Catalogue of Threatened Species. It is also included internationally in the Bern Convention (on the conservation of wildlife and the natural environment in Europe).