Piers Morgan to help Oxfordshire woman save swift population

The broadcaster interviewed Hannah Bourne-Taylor, 36, from Enstone in Oxfordshire, on his show Piers Morgan Uncensored this week.

Ms Bourne-Taylor, who appeared on the show wearing blue, black and white body paint applied by artist Guido Daniele, has started a petition supported by the Royal Society for Protection of Birds (RSPB) and Rewriting Extinction.

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She told Mr Morgan the petition only had about 5,000 signatures and asked him to appeal to his eight million Twitter followers.

Picture by Piers Morgan Uncensored (Image: PA Media)

The television personality said: “You are on national television right now barely wearing a stitch of clothing, this is mostly paint. This takes guts to do this, what are you thinking?”

Ms Bourne-Taylor responded: “I’m really nervous right now. I’m doing this for the birds. I can be publicly ridiculed or judged but I’m doing it for the birds – I’m desperate for them.

“People are saying I’m brave, I’m not I’m desperate, people say I’m stupid, fine, I’m ridiculous, but I’m trying to [be a voice] for the birds.”

She then made the plea to Mr Morgan who agreed to help as it is a ‘good cause’.

He then asked which other birds were impacted and added: “No problem with the tits?”

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Ms Bourne-Taylor laughed and responded: “Tit’s aren’t really involved in this except for [gesturing to her body] you know.”

“Ironic,” said Mr Morgan.

Piers Morgan Uncensored (Image: Piers Morgan Uncensored)

The petition, named The Feather Speech, calls for ‘swift bricks’ in all new housing developments.

This would mean buildings would need bricks with holes that can become nesting environments for four declining UK species: swifts, house sparrows, house martins and starlings.

When in London, Ms Bourne-Taylor stood in Hyde Park in her paint before marching with protesters to Downing Street where she read out a letter to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.

In her letter, she said: "Please acknowledge our walls also belong to adventurers.

"Behind the theatre of this campaign, there is a serious issue of development [causing] biodiversity loss.

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"These cavity-nesting feathered neighbours are not included biodiversity net gain measures despite all of them facing national extinction because of us."

According to Emma Marsh, executive director for RSPB, more than half of many bird species in the UK have disappeared from the skies in just 20 years.

This is partly because of a lack of suitable nesting sites. Ms Bourne-Taylor is urging people to sign the petition to help ‘ensure swifts and other species that have traditionally nested in the cavities of our buildings have a safe home to return to every year’.

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Read more from this author

This story was written by Gee Harland. She joined the team in 2022 as a senior multimedia reporter.

Gee covers Wallingford, Wantage and Didcot.

Get in touch with her by emailing: Gee.harland@newsquest.co.uk

Follow her on Twitter @Geeharland

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