10 - Viva Lewes

Photo by derek Middleton
There’s something about swifts that makes me
think of a certain genre of 50s B-movies. You
know the type of film - motorcycle gangs, all
chrome, leather and attitude, terrorising small
town America.
Our own rebels cruised into town in May and
have been turning our heads skywards for the
past few months. They had a non-stop, long
haul flight from Africa; not that this trip bothered
them. Swifts are all about flying. We’re
talking about a bird that spends almost all its
life in the air. They feed in the air, sleep in the
air and, yes madam, they even do that while
they’re up there too.
For me, the swift is the only bird that takes
pure, unadulterated pleasure in flying. 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’.
By the time you read this, a new generation
of Lewes swifts, born in a roof cavity, would
have crawled to the nest entrance and bravely
launched themselves on their first flights. And,
man. What a first flight. They may not land
again for two or three years! For these ‘teenage’
W W W. V i Va L E W E s . C o M
swifts
Screaming two-winged rebel teenagers from hell
swifts the skies of Europe and Africa will be
their playground – nothing will tame them.
Well, not until they meet a suitable partner
and decide to settle down in a roof of their own
somewhere.
But don’t let this image of domestic bliss fool
you- there’s no taming these Wild Ones.
On warm, summer evenings they will slip away
to join other local swifts and form ‘screaming
parties’ – gangs of them acrobatically blazing
across the Lewes skyline – the novelty of being
airborne never seems to wear off. And let’s face
it – if you and a few of your mates woke up this
morning to find that you could all fly you’d
go screaming down Cliffe High Street every
evening too.
If you were lucky enough to have swifts nesting
in your roof this year I’d like to hear about
it – please email me details (michaelblencowe@
sussexwt.org.uk).
Michael Blencowe
Michael will be leading wildlife walks in the
Lewes area in August and giving a (highly) illustrated
talk on ‘The Butterflies and Moths of
Lewes’ at the All Saints Centre (17th August,
7.30pm). See more details on his shiny, new website
leweswildlife.org.uk or call 07827830891.
w i l d l i f e
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