Wednesday 24 June 2009

Swiftly does it

Having given a bit of advice to Warren Bevan regarding a collapsed house martin nest at Lancaster Golf Club a couple of days ago (brood saved and doing well thanks to Warren's rapid action) tonight's bird in peril came in the form of a swift.

Dave & Holly (of the appropriately named band The Lovely Eggs) came round with an unknown bird in a box. The mystery creature had been found by Dave in a state of distress before it collapsed on the floor of the Music Co-Op on Lodge Street, where he works.

Opening the box I was faced with a lovely adult common swift - giving it a quick check, I took the gamble that it was well and simply unable to take off from the deck and took it out.
The bird climbed up my hand -indicating it was indeed in OK shape - before I launched it successfully into the air.
Amazingly free of lice considering its species, this was the first time I'd ever handled a live swift and we all let out a little cheer at our special Disney moment...

1 comment:

Guy McClelland said...

The swifts are definitely a highlight of living in this part of Lancaster. Lets hope the council don't develop this area because I guess we will lose most of the swift nesting sites. There was an oystercatcher chick on the pool by the western viewpoint this evening. Everywhere else was quiet. I'm not sure what has happened to the lapwing chicks but I struggled to find more than 3 lapwing adults this eve.