Garden show highlights 'symbol of summer skies

A DISPLAY highlighting dramatic declines of swifts and how households can help the “symbol of summer skies” will feature at this year’s Hampton Court Palace Garden Festival.

- EMILY BEAMENT

The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) which puts on the annual festival has teamed up with wildlife charity the RSPB for the first time to create a show garden focused on swifts, supported by comedian Bill Bailey.

Migrating 3,400 miles to Africa and back each year, the birds spend almost all their lives in flight-eating, drinking, mating and even sleeping on the wing - and depend on healthy insect populations and suitable nesting sites for their breeding season in the UK, conservationists say.

But the species has seen numbers plummet by 68% between 1995 and 2023, and they are “red-listed” over concerns about their survival.