An English summer would be incomplete without swifts, screaming around church towers, indulging in mad races down narrow streets, their wild calls echoing the ecstasy of their flight. Such brilliant flying displays gained the swift the name of devil bird, and for centuries this is what it was known as throughout much of England.

There were, of course, local corruptions. Devil screamer, devil swallow and devil screecher were all used in various parts of the country, while that wild cry gave the name of screamer, squealer, screech martin and screek. Other names refer to its swallow-like shape, hence black swallow, black martin and hawk swallow.

Swifts are the most aerial of all birds, feeding, drinking, sleeping and even mating on the wing. They remain airborne from one breeding season to the next, and it is only the need to breed that forces them to touch down. No bird is more perfectly formed for life in the sky, with the most exquisite aerodynamic shape that is the envy of anyone who has ever tried to design a plane.

Swifts have sacrificed a life in the air for mobility on ground, and they are incapable of walking, for their legs are simply too short. Their sharp claws enable them to grip on rock faces or walls, while they shuffle awkwardly to their nest site. Aristotle called them footless, and this is reflected in their misleading Latin name, Apus apus, for apus means without feet. Unlike swallows and martins, you never see swifts perched on telegraph wires. Because of their long wings and lack of legs they also have great difficulty in taking off from the ground. If you should find a grounded swift, then picking it up and throwing it into the air will usually get it airborne again, unless it is injured.

Early arrivals
The earliest I’ve ever seen a swift in England is 18th April, in Kent. This is exceptionally early, though it’s not unusual to see a few birds at the end of April, the mass arrival is not usually until about the 5th or 6th May. We are fortunate to have strong swift populations in all the local villages, including Bardwell, Ixworth and Sapiston. They like to nest inside the roof space of old buildings, swooping in and disappearing under the eaves. Few modern buildings offer suitable sites, while many churches, once traditional breeding sites, are now deserted, invariably because chicken-wire defences against feral pigeons have been erected in the tower, barring the swifts from entry. One way round this is erecting purpose-made swift nest boxes which they will adopt quite readily.

When I lived in Kent I managed to put a couple of swift boxes up on the local church tower. The church warden didn’t think that diocese would allow the boxes to be erected (churches, I suppose, are for people, not birds), but he gave permission as long as I didn’t write about it. The boxes I put up were made in Germany by a company called Schwegler, and are made of a mixture of concrete and sawdust, so that they will last for many years. Once put up the tower they were hardly noticeable. The best way to attract swifts to new boxes is to play a tape or CD of swift calls, as this lures passing birds to investigate.

Birds’ nest soup
There are 96 species of swifts in the world, but only one is of economic importance: the edible-nest swiftlet of Malaysia. This bird nests in caves, often in huge numbers, and makes its nest from saliva. The best nests are white, opaque and translucent, and are greatly valued in Chinese cookery, though in truth they have little, if any, nutritional value, nor much taste.

Swifts have always been one of my favourite birds, as they are present in Britain during what I regard as the best months of the year. They don’t stay with us long: most of our local birds have departed south by the end of the first week of August, for once they have finished breeding, there’s no reason to stay here any longer. It’s a sad day when I look up in the sky and see the swifts have gone. However, though the local birds may have gone, there’s usually a passage of birds from more northerly nesting colonies during the rest of August.

Back to the Tropics
Our swifts spend the rest of their year south of the Tropics: British-ringed birds have been recovered as far away as Zimbabwe. However, because there are a number of very similar looking swifts in Africa, we know little about the habits and distribution of our birds when they are on their wintering grounds.