Jeremy Clarkson called ‘swift legend’ by bird campaigner

One year ago today, high profile bird campaigner, Hannah Bourne-Taylor, from Enstone in Oxfordshire, took to X to thank the Clarkson’s Farm star for his advocacy for swifts.

The nature campaigner, who ahs been described by the RSPB as a ‘voice for nature’, praised the TV star-turned-farmer for promoting measures in new build houses that help the birds nest.

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Ms Bourne-Taylor is on a solo mission to save swifts from extinction in the UK, which are on the Red List of Birds of Conservation Concern since their numbers have declined by more than 60 per cent since 1995. 

Conservationist Hannah Bourne-Taylor (Image: Photo: Press Association)

In June last year, she praised former Top Gear presenter Clarkson to the fight for a column he wrote in the Sunday Times.

The celebrity, who bought Diddly Squat Farm in Chadlington in 2008, has repeatedly used his column to raise awareness of the issues facing British farmers and the countryside.

In the article which won the approval of Bourne-Taylor, titled Spare a Thought for the Real Victims of the Housing Crisis, Clarkson wrote about swifts.

Ms Bourne-Taylor quoted his article in a post on X, in which he wrote: “I think this probably defines the concept of a no-brainer. Instead of using a normal brick, you use a hollow one. No one loses and the swift wins.”

Swifts campagner Hannah Bourne-Taylor (Image: Oxford Mail)

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The campaigner added in her X post: “Thank you so much Jeremy Clarkson – eternal swift legend.”

In another post, she addressed followers: “Go get a copy of the Sunday Times and read about how much Jeremy Clarkson LOVES SWIFTS and is advocating for the government to mandate swift bricks.

“Could Jeremy be the swift saviour the birds so desperately need to inject some much needed common sense into government?”