Swifts in the Triangle
It’s Midsummer – and the Greenwich swifts are back in town. In good numbers this year. These extraordinary birds nest in tight colonies under the eaves of suitable buildings. Extraordinary because, apart from nesting, they literally live the rest of their lives in the air, eating, drinking, mating, even sleeping, all on the wing, and all at great speed. And you can see all this happening in and over the nesting colony up in the eaves of Davy’s Wine Shop, on the corner of Greenwich High Road and Kay Way (by the red telephone booth). The swifts come back from Africa every year for 3 months, to breed here. Their numbers in the UK have fallen heavily over the last ten to fifteen years. So this year’s relative abundance of occupied nests in the Davy’s colony, and the size of the immature parties of non-breeders, the “Screamers”, is good news. From now till the end of June and through July, the p...