On the impossibility of photographing swifts with a mobile phone

 

As well as in the eaves of the Chinese takeaway near me, a couple of days ago I noticed that there were swifts nesting in the corner of the roof gable of one the large number of Victorian semi detached houses that are found at the ends of  the terraced streets in my vicinity.

Having tried and failed to film them and record their excitable screeching at the takeaway, I figured I'd be able to get a few shots of them entering the nest, or perhaps catch a group of them as they flew in tight circles no more than ten feet above my head. With my handy mobile phone of course, on which virtually all of my own photos on this blog are taken...

They are not called swifts for nothing. A large series of shots of the sky revealed endless blue vistas dotted with the odd chimney stack, and eventually, one solitary black dot. Blown up as much as my phone could do it, the end result is what you see above, a photograph of what could just as easily be a picture of a top secret Russian spy jet taken at a range of 40 miles, as it is a swift.

Well I shan't waste my time trying that again! I shall instead merely enjoy the sight of them commanding the air, slicing the air to ribbons with their wings as they shriek past my ear as I cycle home. I suggest you do the same, they shan't be around for that much longer.