By the time the autumn winds are blowing, our swifts are usually long gone. Back in August, the majority flew south to sub-Saharan Africa, where they spend our winter months in the clear blue skies of the southern hemisphere.
Yet this autumn, we have witnessed an unprecedented influx of another species: the pallid swift. This paler cousin of the common swift breeds around the Mediterranean, and was first seen in Britain in 1978, when one was identified at Stodmarsh in Kent. Since then, the pallid swift has remained a scarce vagrant. Yet this year’s unusually warm autumn weather across much of Europe, brought by a south-westerly airflow from north Africa, has brought close to 100 pallid swifts to our shores.
