RSPB issues call for swift action

Conservationists are growing increasingly concerned about the late arrival of swifts to the UK this year.

Many returning after spending the winter in Africa are arriving around two weeks late, according to the RSPB, which is campaigning to save the UK’S dwindling swift population.

It is thought severe storms in Italy, France and Spain have hit swifts particularly badly, with many dying through starvation or hypothermia.

Unseasonably low temperatures over southern Europe will have made the already hazardous 6,000-mile journey even more difficult.

The RSPB is asking volunteers to notify it of sightings of swifts so it can help identify the more important sites in Britain for the birds and target its conservation work there. Sightings of swifts nesting or flying around rooftops should be sent to its Swift Survey at rspb.org.uk/swiftsurvey Samantha Herbert