Swifts

Down to the creek this morning and the tide was out but the air was full of movement. Swifts, about twenty of them, chasing and whirling in and out and over the arches of the railway viaduct, squealing with delight and being sqawked at in return by the blackheaded gulls on the mud.

It's not a sight I see often down there - once a year or so, I suppose - although I remember last year seeing a group of them flying rings round the swallows up at Churchtown. Surely it can't already be time for them to be gathering themselves together ready to leave? Well, yes, it may be. They'll be gone within the next three weeks or so, anyway. I just hope I get the opportunity to admire their aerobatics again before then.