window 4, swifts, code

  Facing the sea at St Leonards-on-Sea.

Swifts transcend other birds not  in their speed and agility alone. The more you learn about them the more they amaze. I have known for a long time that they sleep on the wing at 10,000ft; that they land on their frail and barely existent legs only very rarely remaining airborne for years on end. They build their nests with fragments, (feathers, straw, for example), gathered from the air. Even bus tickets have been observed in nest construction and once a live butterfly. Although a swift weighs little more than a hen's egg, it covers, on average 500 miles a day at an average speed of 25mph. I am addicted to their wild cries and shrieks as they pursue their insect prey.  This information comes from an article in the RSPB magazine by Derek Niemann, which a neighbour knowing my love of swifts, drops through my letter box.

Outside The Grove Tavern,  a fellow drinker asks the tall and elegant Eve; "Have you ever tried Marijuana?" "No", she says. "Have you tried acid?" "No." "Cocaine?" No. Why are you asking me these things?" Curiosity, I expect or mischief, but I must walk on, tempted as I am to eavesdrop.