Swifts - the screaming 'devil birds' of summer

admin
, 06 June 2024
Swifts - the screaming 'devil birds' of summer
Swift © Barry Yates

They’ve made it again / Which means the globe’s still working, the Creation’s / Still waking refreshed, our summer’s / Still all to come. Ted Hughes

There’s something about Swifts that brings to mind American 50s B-movies. Motorcycle gangs, all chrome, leather and attitude, terrorising small town America. Our own Wild Ones scream into town each May and turn heads skywards for the next few months. They've had a non-stop, long-haul flight from Africa; not that this trip bothered them. Swifts are all about flying.

They may not look like much (they’re basically two wings and a mouth) but it’s hard to explain their abilities without making them sound supernatural. They feed in the air, they bathe in the rainclouds and, yes madam, they even do that while they’re up there too.

At night they switch off half their brain, switch on cruise control and fall asleep amongst the stars. If they had their way they would never come down. But there’s one little flaw in their plan: eggs don’t float. So, for just a few weeks of the year, they begrudgingly swap the open skies for a cramped nest under the eaves where they raise their young.

On warm, summer evenings they slip out to join other Swifts to form ‘screaming parties’ – gangs acrobatically blazing across the Sussex skyline. Other birds fly out of necessity, but Swifts seem to fly for the hell of it, screaming with delight at the top of their little Swift lungs, a shrill cry that is forever associated with English summers and earned them the name ‘Devil Birds’.

Leave a comment

Comments

  • David Leverington:

    Still going strong in rural Norfolk. Such a lose when they move south in a couple of weeks time

    20 Jul 2024 19:16:00

  • Erika Demetriou:

    Hello! I found a grounded baby yesterday in Florence Tuscany. Trying very hard to research the best way to care for the bird. Ive only managed to give it water via cotton ball, and have failed to slip in the dead bugs into its mouth. Do you have any suggestions for a next step ? L

    22 Jul 2024 05:34:00

  • Sussex Wildlife Trust:

    Hi, please try and contact a local animal welfare organisation as soon as you can as they will be in the best position to help the young bird. There is more info here, including some organisations who may be able to help 

Time Δ Debug Message - Perch Runway 3.2
1782690439.6860 [906] SELECT p.pagePath, pr.routePattern, pr.routeRegExp, p.pageTemplate, pr.routeOrder, s.settingValue AS siteOffline FROM swt_pages_staging p LEFT JOIN swt_page_routes pr ON p.pageID=pr.pageID LEFT JOIN swt_settings s ON s.settingID='siteOffline' UNION SELECT NULL AS pagePath, pr2.routePattern, pr2.routeRegExp, pr2.templatePath AS pageTemplate, pr2.routeOrder, NULL AS siteOffline FROM swt_page_routes pr2 WHERE templateID!=0 ORDER BY routeOrder ASC, pagePath ASC
1782690439.71140.0255Matched route: news/[slug:s]
1782690439.71160.0001Server address: 216.73.216.31
1782690439.71160Using master page: /templates/pages/blog/post.php
1782690439.71160Page arguments: 
Array
(
    [0] => /news/swifts-the-screaming-devil-birds-of-summer
    [s] => swifts-the-screaming-devil-birds-of-summer
    [1] => swifts-the-screaming-devil-birds-of-summer
)
1782690439.7120.0003 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/news/post' LIMIT 1
1782690439.71320.0012 [86] SELECT DISTINCT settingID, settingValue FROM swt_settings WHERE userID=0
1782690439.71510.002 [1] SELECT locationID FROM swt_shop_tax_locations WHERE locationIsHome=1 LIMIT 1
1782690439.71580.0006INSERT INTO swt_shop_cart(memberID,locationID,currencyID,cartPricing,cartProperties) VALUES(NULL,'1',47,'standard','[]')
1782690439.71780.002 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_shop_cart WHERE cartID=22399110
1782690439.71830.0005 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_shop_cart WHERE cartID=22399110
1782690439.71880.0006 [nil] SELECT * FROM swt_shop_sales WHERE saleFrom<='2026-06-28 23:47:00' AND saleTo>'2026-06-28 23:47:00' AND saleActive=1 AND saleDeleted IS NULL ORDER BY saleOrder ASC
1782690439.72020.0014 [1] SELECT SQL_CALC_FOUND_ROWS DISTINCT tbl.* FROM ( SELECT idx.itemID, main.*, idx2.indexValue as sortval FROM swt_blog_index idx JOIN swt_blog_posts main ON idx.itemID=main.postID AND idx.itemKey='postID' JOIN swt_blog_index idx2 ON idx.itemID=idx2.itemID AND idx.itemKey='postID' AND idx2.indexKey='_id' WHERE 1=1 AND ((idx.indexKey='postSlug' AND idx.indexValue='swifts-the-screaming-devil-birds-of-summer')) AND idx.itemID=idx2.itemID AND idx.itemKey=idx2.itemKey GROUP BY idx.itemID, idx2.indexValue, postID ) as tbl WHERE (postStatus='Published' AND postDateTime<='2026-06-28 23:47:00' ) GROUP BY itemID, sortval ORDER BY sortval ASC LIMIT 0, 10
1782690439.72320.0029 [1] SELECT FOUND_ROWS() AS `count`
1782690439.72380.0006 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_blog_posts WHERE postID=3404 AND postStatus='Published' AND postDateTime<='2026-06-28 23:47:00'
1782690439.72470.0009 [13] SELECT * FROM swt_blog_sections ORDER BY sectionTitle ASC
1782690439.72550.0008 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_blogs ORDER BY blogTitle ASC
1782690439.72620.0008 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_categories WHERE catID=45 LIMIT 1
1782690439.72690.0007Using template: /templates/blog/post.html
1782690439.72720.0003 [162] SELECT catID, catPath FROM swt_categories
1782690439.72820.001 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_blog_posts WHERE postStatus='Published' AND postDateTime<='2026-06-28 23:47:00' AND postSlug='swifts-the-screaming-devil-birds-of-summer'
1782690439.74910.0209Using template: /templates/blog/post.html
1782690439.74970.0006 [250] SELECT country, countryID FROM swt_shop_countries WHERE countryActive=1 ORDER BY country ASC
1782690439.75140.0017Using template: /templates/pages/attributes/seo.html
1782690439.75160.0002 [1] SELECT regionID, regionTemplate, regionPage, regionRev AS rev FROM swt_content_regions WHERE regionKey='Banner image' AND (regionPage='/news/post' OR regionPage='*')
1782690439.75260.0009 [nil] SELECT * FROM ( SELECT idx.itemID, c.regionID, idx.pageID, c.itemJSON, idx2.indexValue as sortval FROM swt_content_index idx JOIN swt_content_items c ON idx.itemID=c.itemID AND idx.itemRev=c.itemRev AND idx.regionID=c.regionID JOIN swt_content_index idx2 ON idx.itemID=idx2.itemID AND idx.itemRev=idx2.itemRev AND idx2.indexKey='_order' WHERE ((idx.regionID=104 AND idx.itemRev=0)) AND idx.itemID=idx2.itemID AND idx.itemRev=idx2.itemRev ) as tbl GROUP BY itemID, pageID, itemJSON, sortval, regionID ORDER BY sortval ASC
1782690439.75410.0015 [82] SELECT * FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageNew=0 AND pageHidden=0 AND pageDepth >=0 AND pageDepth<=2 ORDER BY pageTreePosition ASC
1782690439.75690.0029 [1] SELECT pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/news/post' LIMIT 1
1782690439.75740.0005 [2] SELECT pageID FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageTreePosition IN ('000-006-001', '000-006', '000') ORDER BY pageTreePosition DESC
1782690439.75970.0023Using template: /templates/navigation/ps_nav_template.html
1782690439.75970 [6] Using template: /templates/navigation/ps_nav_template_children.html
1782690439.76040.0006 [4] Using template: /templates/navigation/ps_nav_template_children.html
1782690439.76060.0003 [29] Using template: /templates/navigation/ps_nav_template_children.html
1782690439.7620.0014 [10] Using template: /templates/navigation/ps_nav_template_children.html
1782690439.76260.0005 [7] Using template: /templates/navigation/ps_nav_template_children.html
1782690439.7630.0004 [9] Using template: /templates/navigation/ps_nav_template_children.html
1782690439.76520.0022 [1] SELECT pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/news/post' OR pageSortPath='/news/post' LIMIT 1
1782690439.76610.0009 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageHidden=0 AND pageNew=0 AND pageTreePosition IN ('000-006-001', '000-006', '000') ORDER BY pageTreePosition
1782690439.76830.0022 [1] Using template: /templates/navigation/breadcrumbs.html
1782690439.76880.0005Using template: /templates/blog/post.html
1782690439.7690.0003 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_blog_authors WHERE authorID='1' LIMIT 1
1782690439.76980.0007Using template: /templates/blog/author.html
1782690439.77010.0004 [1] SELECT SQL_CALC_FOUND_ROWS DISTINCT tbl.* FROM ( SELECT idx.itemID, main.*, idx2.indexValue as sortval FROM swt_blog_index idx JOIN swt_blog_posts main ON idx.itemID=main.postID AND idx.itemKey='postID' JOIN swt_blog_index idx2 ON idx.itemID=idx2.itemID AND idx.itemKey='postID' AND idx2.indexKey='_id' WHERE 1=1 AND ((idx.indexKey='postSlug' AND idx.indexValue='swifts-the-screaming-devil-birds-of-summer')) AND idx.itemID=idx2.itemID AND idx.itemKey=idx2.itemKey GROUP BY idx.itemID, idx2.indexValue, postID ) as tbl WHERE (postStatus='Published' AND postDateTime<='2026-06-28 23:47:00' ) GROUP BY itemID, sortval ORDER BY sortval ASC LIMIT 0, 1
1782690439.77220.0021 [1] SELECT FOUND_ROWS() AS `count`
1782690439.77260.0004 [1] Using template: /templates/blog/post.html
1782690439.77590.0033Using template: /templates/blog/comment_form.html
1782690439.77740.0014 [2] SELECT * FROM swt_blog_comments WHERE 1=1 AND postID=3404 AND commentStatus='LIVE' ORDER BY FIELD(webmentionType, 'like', 'repost', 'comment', NULL) ASC, commentDateTime ASC
1782690439.82950.0521 [2] Using template: /templates/blog/comment.html
1782690439.83020.0008Using template: /templates/blog/post.html
1782690439.83030.0001 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_blog_authors WHERE authorID='1' LIMIT 1
1782690439.83110.0008 [1] SELECT pageID, pageParentID, pageDepth, pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/what-we-do' OR pageSortPath='/what-we-do' LIMIT 1
1782690439.83170.0006 [1] SELECT pageID, pageParentID, pageDepth, pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageTreePosition='000-002' LIMIT 1
1782690439.83230.0006 [7] SELECT * FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageNew=0 AND pageHidden=0 AND pageTreePosition LIKE '000-002%' AND pageDepth >=1 AND pageDepth<=2 ORDER BY pageTreePosition ASC
1782690439.83470.0024 [1] SELECT pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/news/post' LIMIT 1
1782690439.83530.0006 [2] SELECT pageID FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageTreePosition IN ('000-006-001', '000-006', '000') ORDER BY pageTreePosition DESC
1782690439.83740.0021 [6] Using template: /templates/navigation/footer-nav.html
1782690439.83840.001 [1] SELECT pageID, pageParentID, pageDepth, pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/make-a-difference' OR pageSortPath='/make-a-difference' LIMIT 1
1782690439.8390.0006 [1] SELECT pageID, pageParentID, pageDepth, pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageTreePosition='000-005' LIMIT 1
1782690439.83950.0005 [38] SELECT * FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageNew=0 AND pageHidden=0 AND pageTreePosition LIKE '000-005%' ORDER BY pageTreePosition ASC
1782690439.84190.0025 [1] SELECT pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/news/post' LIMIT 1
1782690439.84240.0005 [2] SELECT pageID FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageTreePosition IN ('000-006-001', '000-006', '000') ORDER BY pageTreePosition DESC
1782690439.84430.0019 [10] Using template: /templates/navigation/footer-nav.html
1782690439.84760.0033 [1] SELECT pageID, pageParentID, pageDepth, pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/visit' OR pageSortPath='/visit' LIMIT 1
1782690439.84830.0007 [1] SELECT pageID, pageParentID, pageDepth, pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageTreePosition='000-004' LIMIT 1
1782690439.84870.0004 [30] SELECT * FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageNew=0 AND pageHidden=0 AND pageTreePosition LIKE '000-004%' AND pageDepth >=1 AND pageDepth<=2 ORDER BY pageTreePosition ASC
1782690439.85110.0023 [1] SELECT pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/news/post' LIMIT 1
1782690439.85150.0005 [2] SELECT pageID FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageTreePosition IN ('000-006-001', '000-006', '000') ORDER BY pageTreePosition DESC
1782690439.85340.0019 [29] Using template: /templates/navigation/footer-nav.html
1782690439.85610.0027 [1] SELECT pageID, pageParentID, pageDepth, pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/make-a-difference' OR pageSortPath='/make-a-difference' LIMIT 1
1782690439.85680.0007 [1] SELECT pageID, pageParentID, pageDepth, pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageTreePosition='000-005' LIMIT 1
1782690439.85730.0004 [11] SELECT * FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageNew=0 AND pageHidden=0 AND pageTreePosition LIKE '000-005%' AND pageDepth >=1 AND pageDepth<=2 ORDER BY pageTreePosition ASC
1782690439.85940.0021 [1] SELECT pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/news/post' LIMIT 1
1782690439.85990.0005 [2] SELECT pageID FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageTreePosition IN ('000-006-001', '000-006', '000') ORDER BY pageTreePosition DESC
1782690439.8620.0021 [10] Using template: /templates/navigation/footer-nav.html
1782690439.8630.001Request time: 0.1801
1782690439.8630Process time: 0.1799
1782690439.8630Memory: 1.6218