A building that was a noted nesting site for swifts, among the UK’s most at-risk birds, has been demolished during the nesting season, highlighting significant weaknesses in the protection of wildlife from development, campaigners say.

Contractors for the housebuilder Hill Group carried out the demolition of Regent House near Dorking station in Surrey over the last few weeks, during the nesting season which runs from 1 March to 31 August.

Footage captured last week shows swifts attempting to return to nests in the building, which was known to be home to one of the largest populations of the birds in the Mole Valley area in Surrey. They approach and then repeatedly turn away because their nests are no longer there.