Swifts, the bird that sleeps in the sky

This morning F and I went to our bowling group which was good fun as always and afterwards went shopping in town.

We have a friend, Sarah who works for the Shropshire Wildlife Trust and is an expert on swifts.  She has just launched a book about them called "Swifts and Us, the life of a bird that sleeps in the sky".  

They're fascinating birds that arrive here from Africa in spring.  The only time that they land is to breed.  Sadly their numbers have decreased greatly as the gaps in eves under buildings have disappeared which is why houses are now encouraged to have swift boxes or bricks.

In 2014 Sarah called us to see the injured swift that she had rescued blipped here.  Sadly it didn't make it but you might find it's tiny feet interesting as they're not made for walking.

When we went past Booka, Oswestry's great independent bookshop, I saw that they had made a display of Sarah's book as they're selling it there as well as in many other places.  There's also a reflection of the buildings across the street and the photographer.