Swifts are different from martins, being much blacker and more...er...swift. I gather they seldom take the ground and indeed their legs are weak. Of an evening they fly around in a circuit, screaming. We have had them nesting in our roof space (not the mud nests under the eaves which house-martins make) and to get to the nest they approach the lawn at high speed then swoop up to the roof, stalling just at the level they need to clamber in. Ours left for their migration south some time ago...but don't know exactly when because we were away on holiday. Apparently they leave a parasite (a sort of tic?) behind them which lies dormant over winter and re-infects them next year. Yuk. What have we got in our roof-space?
Mrs Ardcarp says local house martins were still seem around last weekend (i.e. Sept 30th)
Mrs Ardcarp says local house martins were still seem around last weekend (i.e. Sept 30th)
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