On the wing

A sunny morning, and I took the opportunity to catch up with a few jobs in the garden.  Among other things I picked a big batch of currants for the freezer.
Hard to concentrate, though, with the swifts wheeling and screaming overhead. I particularly like the way that morning light sometimes catches on a wing surface, turning it to silver.
I'm never close enough to capture a great deal of detail; occasionally there's the glint of an eye, or the shape of a throat pouch, bulging with insects. Mainly it's just great to watch them. The numbers seem to me to be a bit down on last year, perhaps because of the cold, wet and windy weather that's affected their migration this year. However: they're here, and our local swift conservation group is busy monitoring numbers, ensuring rescues for any chicks that fall out of the nest and surveying buildings where renovations might put nest sites in jeopardy. I haven't done any of that surveying, this year, but might manage some during the rest of July.