A perfect free-standing nesting life-size swift decoration, ideal for any bird lover’s desk, shelf or window-sill.
Swifts look huge from below as we watch them, silhouettes out-stretched wings, slice through our summer blue skies. When you see a swift in the hand, the body is actually quite slight with the folded wings projecting several centimeters beyond the short tail feathers.
Inspired by Swift conservation volunteers who wanted model birds that could be handled but weren’t stiff wood or plastic, these beautiful, life-size wool birds would be a lovely gift for bird lovers and enthusiasts.
Made from 100% wool felt, grey-brown on the front and warm chocolate brown on the back, each bird has a wool/viscose felt colour pop in the middle, creating a shallow relief bird art-doll padded with 100% pure wool. You will be asked to select a Colour Pop choice when you add a swift to your basket.
Each bird has a detailed and unique needle-felt ‘painted’ wool face, beak and eye, and free-motion embroidery wing details bringing them to life and giving them individual character. The design incorporates a ‘brood patch’ on the belly, which is what the female birds use to keep their eggs warm but allows my swifts to balance upright in nesting pose on shelf, desk or windowsill.
I have my own nesting swift – I have kept one with the sunshine-yellow pop detail - on my desk upstairs in my studio at the front of the house. I have a new swift box up there, above the window, with a swift caller placed just outside the window on a timer. My bird art-doll keeps me company as I wait for the real swifts to come and take up residence.
My north facing front window downstairs holds several nesting swifts on the sill too, facing outwards. I love seeing passers-by smiling at their little faces whilst the dark brown back on each swift is a clean silhouette toward me.
Dimensions: approximately 22cms long, 8 cms tall and 3 cms deep
Each nesting swift is hand-made slowly and one at a time, so there are always variations between individual birds, just as in real life - that is what makes them a unique and beautiful bird-art piece to treasure for a lifetime.
Conservation note: Swifts are astonishing birds who spend almost their whole lives in the air – eating and drinking, sleeping and mating on the wing. In fact, nesting and feeding their young is the only time they purposefully come out of the air and into our world below. They nest in old buildings and are faithful to their previous nesting sites. If those building are knocked down, repaired or insulated, their nest site can be lost. New buildings are often made with no nooks and crannies for the returning swifts to find, so they need our help to put up nesting boxes beneath the eaves by the roof or to repair any fascia without blocking existing nests.
