We are quite used to being buzzed by Sand Martins when walking on the undercliff here at Barton but one day, on a walk along the sea wall at Keyhaven, we were surprised to have a similar encounter with a large group of Swifts.

It's always a pleasure to see these birds but usually they are up high, feeding on insects carried up on thermals, resulting in distant views like that on the right. This time though there were clouds of midges around the gorse and shrub and I can only surmise that this is what was tempting the Swifts down so low.

Low they may have been, but photographing them was still impossible! The shots here are the best I managed, mainly by the technique of setting the camera on repeat, pointing it at a likely patch of sky and pushing the button - or just finding one (or three, if you look carefully) in a picture of Spoonbills, the other highlight of the same day!

Photograph (above) - July 2008

 

Photographs (below) - June 2013

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