Last night, just as we were finishing our dinner, ourselves and a family of five Belgans, there was crash through the vine and a Swift landed, shook, confused and terrified on the dinner table.
It was immediately apparent that this bird was very shook indeed so Sile decided the humane thing to do was to carry it down to the garden to recover, so, she wrapped it gently in a napkin and (accompanied by the two little Belgan girls) brought it downstairs to the garden.
In the morning it was lying there still, the little girls approached it and it gave a few terrified flutters and then remained still.
This evening we thought about it again and yes, it was still with us, and getting livlier by the minute. Sile went into the garden and then called me for the napkin again.
She again wrapped it gently and then brought it up to the terrace. There she undid the napkin and like a mother bird pushed it into flight.
It immediately swooped off and within seconds was gone into the air out of sight.
Wonderful moment for a bird we thought was dead!