Friday 7 June 2024

World Swift Day

Edinburgh today is full of young people dressed in sparkly outfits and cowboy hats, piling onto the buses and trams to get to Murrayfield to see some pop star in concert, so it may be tempting to think that World Swift Day is something to do with said pop star. 

But no, World Swift Day is a chance to celebrate Swifts and to help conserve these amazing aerobatic birds that visit the UK every year. 

As I posted here a few days ago, Swifts have arrived back in our local skies, but apart from a flurry of about five or six a few days ago, I've barely seen any. I remember the days when we would regularly see 20 swifts flying above our street. Swifts have shown a huge decline in the past decade or so across the UK. 

One way of helping is to put up a nest box (as we did a few years ago, when we last had roofing work done). Another thing that everyone can do, is to raise awareness of the perilous situation of these lovely birds. A certain pop star who shares the same name as these birds might be able to raise awareness at tonight's show in Edinburgh, so I was cheeky enough to tweet her today, which will probably have no effect whatsoever, but it's worth a try.


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