Swifts and Us: The Life of the Bird that Sleeps in the Sky

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Lyrical, grand and full of reverence * Guardian, *Book of the Day* * Cocker brings both nostalgia and universal connections to the swifts' majestic, sky-high adventures * Mail on Sunday * A stunning celebration – and commemoration – of swifts * New Statesman, *Books of the Year* * It's not often I am moved to tears. It’s a delight to see the country through his eyes, particularly places I know well (Devon, the New Forest, Wiltshire/Berkshire) or have visited recently (Northumberland). A few months back I cheekily wrote to the prize director, proffering myself as a judge and appending a list of eligible titles I hoped were in consideration. Thanks to this book and efforts of other like-minded swifting people, a few more hearts and minds may be opened to the wonder of these birds, a few more swift boxes put up and more voices may well speak up for nature.

We got a lot of help on moving day from neighbours, one of whom built a tower of book boxes in the corner of the dining room!m. and still fully light, warm enough to be comfortable in a jacket, and a cuckoo serenaded me as I watched swifts wheeling by overhead. She retreats from giving concerts, dyes her hair blue, and bounces between European capitals in the later days of the pandemic, giving music lessons and caring for her mentor and adoptive father, Arthur, who’s dying on Sardinia. Unst, Shetland as a setting in Orchid Summer by Jon Dunn, Sightlines by Kathleen Jamie, Julia and the Shark by Kiran Millwood Hargrave, and Where the Wildflowers Grow by Leif Bersweden. When I finally clap eyes on them, they’re promoted from the filing cabinet to a special place in my heart.

That being said… I’m sure there are kids out there who want scarier stuff (again, The Swifts is not scary; it just has a few murders in it). I was already delighted by everything about The Swifts, but this loving inclusion just put it over the edge. This gives the reader a starting point with which to quickly understand the individual Swifts… or not. Much of the book is devoted to the author's travels visiting swift nesting areas throughout Europe and Britain. We’ve also installed one swift and two house martin boxes along the wall from the corner, just in case.Shenanigan Swift lives with her sisters, great aunt, and uncle in a crumbling old house full of hidden passages, dangerous traps, and a long-lost family treasure. But inside, there is a series of wonderful photographs, by a variety of photographers, of Swifts in flight which make a fine addition to the text.

After spending many years in London, Claire now enjoys a quieter life in the rolling hills of Derbyshire with her partner Stefan (who may not agree that living with Claire is quiet). A very engaging theme through the book is talking directly to those involved in studying Swifts, and their conservation in the UK and beyond, and so we read of the likes of the departed David Lack and Chris Mead, and of the still going strong Edward Mayer and Dick Newell amongst quite a lot of others. First published in 1956, Swifts in a Tower still offers readers astonishing insights into the private lives of swifts, their lifestyle and wider issues. The author has worked for the Shropshire Wildlife Trusts for a good many years, and the jacket tells us that she has harangued her colleagues for using incomprehensible jargon and shoddy grammar. Full of zany characters and scintillating wordplay, this children’s mystery is as enjoyable for adults as it is for the young readers in its target audience.Why is it that books seem to bunch together by topic, with several about Henry James or swifts or whatever all being published within the same year or few years?

Until 1943, when hunters in a Peruvian rainforest flushed out 13 ringed birds from a hollow tree, observers north and south of the equator had no idea where swifts went for half of the year, and we’re still not much the wiser. During such periods, they sometimes form temporary roosts, gathering in protected areas in buildings. Quiet as it’s kept” (a quote from the opening line of Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye) is borrowed in a poem in No Country for Eight-Spot Butterflies by Julian Aguon and one in the anthology American Wildflowers: A Literary Field Guide, ed. Yes: logging companies, because though loss of nesting sites (the nooks and crannies in our buildings) is an obvious and well-known problem for the Swift, it is the massive destruction of forests in Africa by logging companies (and the resulting loss of the flying insects that are the only things eaten by Swifts) that is most putting their survival at risk.A moving story about leaving home in pursuit of safety, friendship and adventure, inspired by the 22-000 mile journey swifts make every year.