Unexpected visitor

There was fluttering behind one of walls during Reading Quakers’ meeting for worship today. Investigations revealed a frightened swift, that had fallen down the shaft that gives access to the roof.

Swifts can’t take off from the ground even if they are outdoors, and certainly not from the bottom of a shaft. Thankfully one of our members is an experienced naturalist and was able to pick up the swift gently. He threw it up into the air outside and it immediately took to the wing.