Thursday 26 July 2012

Swifts Personality of the Year

One of my favourite Summer birds is the Swift.

It has featured in several Imperfect and Tense blogs over the years, most notably "Air on G's Tring" in May 2009 and "Sleeping with Swifts" in May 2011. They even had a mention in September 2009 via a Peatbog Faeries track that featured their screaming calls as a backing 'vocal'.

But today, I was saddened to read of the tough time they're having this year, following all the wet weather that has occurred in late Spring/early Summer. The article was on the BBC News webpage, under Science and Environment, and can be found here.

And to really bring home the message, a great friend and follower of Imperfect and Tense, John Day, appeared on BBC Radio 4's Farming Today programme this morning, explaining in his own inimitable way, just how difficult a time these birds are having.

Thanks, JD, from me and the swifts. We appreciate all the efforts that you and your colleagues are putting in.

2 comments:

holdingmoments said...

I've read about their struggles too Graeme.
Summer wouldn't be a summer without the screaming skies above.
I'm lucky to have a good colony just down the road from me, and at the moment I can see 20-30 flying around.

Imperfect and Tense said...

It certainly wouldn't be the same without them, Keith.
And for thos enesting in church towers, I bet they didn't appreciate 3 minutes of bell-ringing this morning!