Swift Awareness Day

Join Dr Martin Stervander, Senior Curator of Birds, at National Museums Collection Centre to discover the fast and fascinating world of the common swift. 

This iconic species eats in the air, sleeps in the air, copulates in the air and flies to sub-Saharan Africa every year. But they are in need of our help. 

Explore swift specimens from our collections and check out our brand new swift nestboxes. Then learn more about swift habits, feeding, migration patterns and how you can support the declining population. 

Event times

There are four session times to choose from: 

• 10:00 - 10:50
• 11:15 - 12:05
• 13:30 - 14:20
• 14:45 - 15:35

About the curator

Dr Martin Stervander is responsible for the curation, development, digitisation and research use of National Museums Scotland’s bird collections. He is a researcher focusing on avian speciation and evolution, as well as taxonomy.

Accessibility and facilities

We want everyone who comes to our museums to enjoy their time with us and make the most of their visit.  

Our Collection Centre is a working site which we are transforming to enable better public access.   

Assistance contact

If you will be using a wheelchair, an assistance dog, require disabled parking or have any other access requirements, please email us in advance of the tour at communities@nms.ac.uk. 

Header image credit: This image is under the Creative CommonsAttribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.