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

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A rich and elegant exploration that takes us to unexpected places. With the swift as our lift, we leave the garden on an extraordinary tour that takes in the moon, amongst many other wonderful destinations -- Tristan Gooley, author of HOW TO READ A TREE Purchasing a book may earn the NS a commission from Bookshop.org, who support independent bookshops An outright classic of his genre [...] If you thrill to the swifts' arrival (and mourn their annual too-soon departure), this book will enchant as they do [...] A nature classic for the new century"

A rich and elegant exploration that takes us to unexpected places. With the swift as our lift, we leave the garden on an extraordinary tour that takes in the moon, amongst many other wonderful destinations Tristan Gooley, author of How to Read a TreeFollowing on from her experience as “The Ethical Carnivore”, when she ate only what she killed or found over the span of two years and authored a book of the same title, Louise Gray has now shifted her attention to fruit and veg. At the Festival, she will discuss her new book Avocado Anxiety and reveal the results of her investigations into some of our favourite fruits and vegetables – the agricultural and commercial systems behind them and how these impact their carbon footprint and nutritiousness. As BBC Radio 4’s longest serving presenter with front-line experience reporting some of the biggest global news stories of the 90s, Justin Webb shared his observations about how journalism, news, audiences and the media industry have evolved since he began his career and how we can clean up or upgrade the media environment so that the news can fulfil its original and most important purpose – accurately and objectively informing the public about important events that affect civic discourse. What is even more amazing than what we learn about swifts is how little we know about them, still. Until 1943, when hunters in a Peruvian rainforest flushed out 13 ringed birds from a hollow tree, observers north and south of the equator had no idea where swifts went for half of the year, and we’re still not much the wiser. The birds’ scientific name, Apus apus, comes from a Greek root word meaning “footless” because of an ancient belief that they never landed; in the 17th century, British swift watchers thought they flew to the moon in winter. Now, thanks to a recent Swedish study, we know that in the non-breeding season, many birds spend 99% of their time flying, eating and sleeping on the wing, and some never land at all.

Lyrical and startling by turn, he reveals the extraordinary in the apparently ordinary ... A jewel of a book -- Caroline Lucas MPThe bestselling author of Crow Country and writer of the Guardian's Country Diary tells the story of all life on Earth through a single day spent in the company of swifts Drawing deeply on science, history, literature and a lifetime of close observation, One Midsummer's Day is a dazzling and wide-ranging celebration of all life on Earth by one of our greatest nature writers.