SWIFTS IN A TOWER
DAVID LACK, UNICORN, £15 (HB)
Screaming helter-skelter around rooftops on muggy evenings, swifts are the sound of summer. No other British bird is more dependent on people – having long ago abandoned their ancestral habit of nesting on cliffs and trees, swifts now slip under our roof slates or between cracks in mortar. Yet they fly all the way from Congo to spend just 100 days a year with us.
Much of what we know about swifts is thanks to ornithologist David Lack, whose book Swifts in a Tower became an instant classic when published in 1956. His riveting account, based on years of observation at an Oxford museum (the ‘tower’ of the title), was the first to reveal the amazing life story of these avian superstars – which feed, drink, mate and even sleep on the wing, flying hundreds of miles a day to avoid storms and find fair weather.
Together with The Life of the Robin, Lack’s other great book, Swifts in a Tower made scientific research available to a mass audience, helping create a new genre of popular naturalhistory that now fills many a bookshop display. First editions are highly collectible, so this reissue is excellent value. It concludes with a new chapter by his son Andrew, updating the swift story with the latest information from hightech gadgets such as GPS tags. We now know, for example, that young swifts stay airborne for up to three years non-stop before landing to investigate their first nest – a feat unique in the bird world. Ben Hoare, BBC Wildlife