Today's post is about nature. Swifts, to be precise. There is a family of swifts living in the underground carpark of the building where I live and they've developed a curious strategy that allows them to go in and out through the entrance, which is generally shut securely by a roller door.

If you take the car out in the morning, they're waiting nearby so that they can shoot out the entrance as you drive through. They wait somewhere in the cieling space just opposite the door. The nest seems to be located away from the door at the far end of the garage.

At other times, they apparently listen to the sounds your car makes as you move from your parking slot to the entrance. If you're lucky, they shoot out past the windows as you're driving.

They're neat little creatures. So fast. So self-contained.

They make no noise. All you know is that, suddenly, a small, dark form careens around the car as it heads into the open space beyond the driveway or, obversely, as it returns to the nest that is secreted inside the garage.

Either way, it's a treat. I feel privileged to know there are swifts inhabiting the building.