With its track record of leveraging cultural power for US gain and barely concealed promotion of coup attempts, the US Agency for International Development will not be mourned among the US’s southern neighbours, write JOHN PERRY and ROGER D HARRIS
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
![](https://msd11.gn.apc.org/sites/default/files/styles/wide/public/11swiftie.jpg.webp?itok=BDJw1WDg)
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
![](https://msd11.gn.apc.org/sites/default/files/styles/wide/public/PA-75713214.jpg.webp?itok=WP3tWLPt)
The government’s reliance on unproven and short-termist technology won’t deliver answers to today’s energy crisis, warns MARK MASLIN
![](https://msd11.gn.apc.org/sites/default/files/styles/wide/public/11wasps.jpg.webp?itok=QL09fajm)
This much-maligned insect’s numbers are dramatically down this summer. SEIRIAN SUMNER explains what’s happened to them, and why ecologists are calling for assistance from the public
![](https://msd11.gn.apc.org/sites/default/files/styles/wide/public/PA-60052925.jpg.webp?itok=AAcMv2dE)
ZARAH PATTISON explains how invasive plants like Himalayan balsam and rhododendron are playing havoc with ecosystems where they are introduced
![](https://msd11.gn.apc.org/sites/default/files/styles/wide/public/forest_fires_webpic_0.jpg.webp?itok=lqN5eovT)
A new study has found that forests destroyed by wildfires emit carbon long after the flames die, with implications for post-fire management, write NATASCHA KLJUN and JULIA KELLY