The First Swifts 2016

The first swifts are back! Ali has been listening out for their return and today she heard the sound that made her look up to the sky, the shrill scream of a swift, 8:52am to be exact. Having flown all the way from Africa the two swifts were putting on a graceful aerial display. For the past 60 years the swifts have been studied by the Oxford University Museum of Natural History and according to their Swift Diary, "This year the first swift was spotted around the Museum tower on Wednesday 4th May" (a short flight from Worcester College as the crow flies, sorry swift flies). Each year the swifts return to the nesting boxes in the tower's ventilation flues of the museum, for previous statistics, arrival dates, nesting activity, eggs hatched, chicks fledged and departure dates click on the link: SWIFTS IN THE TOWER