ROY BAMFORD has uncovered this old photograph which shows the amazing wing flexibility of the swallow.

USE it or lose it. A well known phrase and one I intend to adhere to, at least in the case of this picture of a swallow feeding young at the nest.

This was one of my first digipics taken in 2006 and it has always has been on the agenda to be used, but at critical times I have managed to lose it on crashed PCs! Found again quite recently, it is certainly past any scheduled ‘use by date’, but for such a lash-up of a hide as was required and a quite minimal camera, I think the resulting picture is not half bad and has interest.

If you look at the wings it is apparent that they are rotated a full 180 degrees, a quite amazing flexibility of the joint that virtually all small birds enjoy and can exploit at some time or other. Hovering is not just in the realm of humming birds, kestrels, kingfishers, ospreys and terns.

I have seen robins, blackbirds and many other species attempting, if not always succeeding in this operation, especially when it comes to accessing food at various feeders more often designed for tits, nuthatches and woodpeckers.

Possibly the most famous photograph showing this wing-joint flexibility (and one burnt into my memory) is that of a male nightjar hovering close to the ground. This was a black and white photograph, taken using flash by the well known naturalist, author and photographer; Eric Hosking (1909-1991).

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