ROX MIDDLETON, LIAM SHAW and MIRIAM GAUNTLETT delve into the technicalities of famine classification to reveal a worldview in tatters
Swifts delayed by cold and wet springs face mounting problems as the climate changes
How is this much-loved migratory bird species faring as rising temperatures change when seasons arrive, asks ALEXANDER C LEES

THE weather is warmer and the nights are lighter. What are those black, curved silhouettes looping in the sky?
Assuming you are looking at birds and not attending the World Boomerang Championships, those shapes will likely be Britain’s only breeding member of the Apodiformes (a grouping that includes the hummingbirds): the common swift (Apus apus), harbinger of summer.
Similar stories

ALASTAIR BONNETT reports on the paradoxes of populist attitudes towards protection of the natural world

What has worked well – and what needs to change – for the convention that controls trade in endangered species? DAN CHALLENDER and MICHAEL ’T SAS-ROLFES explain

Addressing new climate challenges will require co-ordinated efforts by governments and local authorities for both drought and flood risks — and it’s people power that will be key to getting policy implemented, writes DOUG SPECHT

The government’s reliance on unproven and short-termist technology won’t deliver answers to today’s energy crisis, warns MARK MASLIN