Speaking out for Swifts
A writer and conservationist has taken an unconventional approach to helping threatened birds
Anational campaign for Swifts, supported by the RSPB and the conservation charity Rewriting Extinction, has been launched by author and conservationist Hannah Bourne-Taylor.
She delivered a speech on 5 November at Speaker’s Corner to launch The Feather Speech, followed by a non-disruptive procession to Downing Street, unclothed, painted from neck to toe in ink feathers.
The campaign is a collaboration between world-renowned artists (body painter Guido Daniele, who has worked with The Jane Goodall Institute, and conservation photographer Tim Flach) and leading scientists.
The Feather Speech aims to highlight a national issue – development causing biodiversity loss – and to promote a petition to address it.
The petition asks the government to make ‘Swift bricks’ compulsory across new housing in Britain. These bricks, which contain built-in nest spaces, would benefit Swifts and three other Red-Listed species – House Sparrows, House Martins and Starlings. Their declines are directly correlated with human developments, yet they are not acknowledged in the government’s Biodiversity Net Gains. Swifts have declined more than 50% since the mid-1990s and have been on the Red List for a year, joining 69 other British birds. Red-Listed birds are those of highest conservation concern, requiring urgent action.
Hannah Bourne-Taylor is an author and conservationist, whose nature memoir Fledgling, published in spring 2022, went globally viral thanks to a national newspaper headline “I let a baby bird nest in my hair for 84 days.” Fledgling tells the true story of how Hannah rescued, hand raised and released two wild birds, one of them a Swift. Her loyalty to these individual birds motivated her to act for the birds she loves the most.
She said: “I’m head over heels in love with birds, especially Swifts. The Feather Speech campaign is here to show that we can make a difference and that passion is a superpower.
“The environmental crisis feels overwhelming and is often a divisive and negative subject, but The Feather Speech campaign feels hopeful because if we work as a team for these birds, we can make a positive difference.”