Scree-scree-scree screamed a dozen local swifts as they flew at great speed just above the rooftops around 9pm on 1st August.

The following day they were gone, drifting southwards to begin their six week flight back to Africa.. They left a few days earlier than usual and who can blame them for swifts revel in calm sunny conditions as they hunt for aerial plankton and this summer is the windiest for twenty years.

From the hottest July day ever on the first of that month to the final night being the coldest recorded, topsy-turvy described the weather in mid-summer .

The swift's three month stay to breed in Britain goes by so quickly and now the skies are sadly empty, a sure sign that summer is on the wane.

It never fails to amaze me that when the young birds leave the nest, they will fly continuously for the next two or three years until they nest. Their wings are so long and feet virtually useless so that if they accidentally touched ground they would be unable to take off again.

So, how many million miles in their lifetime do they travel? It's a mystery so profound, mere mortal man cannot unravel.

They are very long-lived birds with ringed specimens showing about eighteen years is an average lifespan. Being constantly on the wing swifts have no ground predators but are targeted by a few birds of prey such as the fast flying hobby, a small falcon that spends the summer here, also feeding on dragonflies caught in flight.