Protecting Byron’s bank swallows | CTV News [Video]

Council is be urged to ensure that a plan to redevelop the Byron Gravel Pit also maintains a summer home for its long-time residents — a colony of bank swallows.

“A colony of about 2,000 bank swallows is pretty significant,” explained Brendon Samuels of Bird Friendly London. “I believe it’s the largest known inland colony of the species in the province.”

Voracious eaters of insects, the beneficial birds fly north each summer to breed and raise their young along sandy cliffs.

On Tuesday, council will consider approving the Byron Gravel Pit Secondary Plan that lays the groundwork for redeveloping the property into high-rise residential near its perimeter and a natural public greenspace at its centre.

However, concern is growing that remediating the Byron Gravel Pit to permit future residential and recreational uses, might require backfilling along the steep cliffs where bank swallows raise their young inside burrows each summer.

“If …