Philip Marsden

The amazing aerial acrobatics of swifts

Over the course of one midsummer’s day, Mark Cocker presents a startling picture of the breeding, feeding, fledging and migrating habits of these little dynamos of life

In proportion to their body weight, swifts have the longest wings of any bird in the world. [Getty Images]

  • One Midsummer’s Day: Swifts and the Story of Life on Earth

    Mark Cocker

    Jonathan Cape, pp. 352, £20

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