Richard Osman ruffles feathers with swift eating blunder The Times Ed Halford Richard Osman ruffles feathers with swift eating blunder The bestselling crime author is rewriting a short extract from his novel We Chase Shadows for the paperback edition because birdwatchers spotted an inaccuracy Richard Osman apologised for the mistake David Levenson/Getty Images Ed Halford Sunday October 18 2026, 5.30pm BST , The Times Listen 0:00 / · 4:46 min Share Share this article Email Twitter Facebook Link Save Today's Quizle Q: Test your knowledge Richard Osman has provoked the fury of ornithologists with an error about the eating habits of swifts in his most recent murder mystery novel. The author, who has sold 17 million books and published five Thursday Murder Club mysteries, confessed that he was making a change to a short excerpt in his novel We Chase Shadows after furious birdwatchers picked up on an inaccuracy where he states that swifts hunt for and eat worms. Books newsletter News, reviews, author interviews and suggested reads from our literary editors. Sign up with one click You've successfully signed up to the Books newsletter Explore our newsletters An error occurred. Please use the link below. Books newsletter Explore our newsletters Speaking at the Times and Sunday Times Cheltenham Literature Festival on Saturday, Osman said: “I had a thing today that came through that was Vern — this guy in a Tuscan villa is looking for a swift which is on the roof of one of his outbuildings — and the swift is looking for food for its family. Ian Rankin: I'd be happy if Rebus joined The Thursday Murder Club “My editor said there are a lot of furious birdwatchers out there because they're saying that swifts do not eat worms. Advertisement “They don't look for worms, they don't eat worms, so should we change it in the paperback to a blackbird or a robin?” Top stories 1 Clodagh McKenna: I always get up at 6am on holiday. I love the calm Inspiration 2 16 of the best safaris in Africa Africa Top stories 1 Prepare now for the inheritance tax mess coming for your pension Tax Osman told his editor they should have picked up on this error as he was not an ornithologist, and suggested the following edit: Actually now he thinks about it, Vern is not sure it's a swift.” Most commented 1 Russian strikes 'leave half a million Ukrainian homes without power' Russia-Ukraine war 389 comments Osman apologised to ornithologists at Cheltenham and joked: “What the f*** are they eating?”. Osman with his wife Ingrid Oliver in May Dave Benett/BAFTA/Getty Images for BAFTA Birdwatchers on social media platforms such as Facebook were quick to point out the error when Osman initially advertised the release of his hardback novel. One reader said: “I've just got to the bit about the swift swooping down to eat a worm and I was just completely discombobulated,” while another cheekily suggested: “Maybe they need bird advisers”. Advertisement A third was so puzzled by the idea of a swift eating worms they suggested “it is such an obvious mistake I wondered if it was deliberate for some reason?” The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman audiobook review Swifts, which can often be spotted nesting in tiny gaps inside roofs, catch flying insects and spiders in the air and always feed above the ground. In Osman's novel, he wrote that a swift “dives and picks up a worm in its sharp beak”. drakuliren/Getty Images It is unusual to spot swifts after August in the UK, as by this point they tend to have begun their migration to Africa. The birds, which are a dark sooty brown colour, can reach top speeds of 69mph, but their numbers are falling. They have been added to the UK's Red List of Birds of Conservation Concern: according to the RSPB, for every ten swifts zooming across our skies in 1995, there were only about three by 2022. Advertisement During the talk, it was suggested to Osman that his books were “comedies”. The author replied to say the reason they were called murder mysteries was “because people don't buy comedies”. The Thursday Murder Club review — camp and quietly sad, a franchise is born If he marketed his books as “crime novels there's a bigger audience than if you market them as comic novels”, he said, adding: “I don't really like reading funny crime books particularly because it always slightly takes me out of the story.” Osman's novel We Solve Murders is set to be adapted as a series on Netflix, following the film adaptation of The Thursday Murder Club on the platform. However, many readers were upset that the film pivoted away from the novel's storyline by including the arrest of the Polish builder Bogdan. Advertisement Speaking about the possibility of another Thursday Murder Club film, Osman said: “I think that's something that I would like to take under my wing a little bit more.” Osman said the production of the film, which starred David Tennant, Celia Imrie, Pierce Brosnan, and Helen Mirren, was “fun”, but added: “Just in terms of what I feel about the characters and how I feel about things, maybe I'd get a bit more involved.” Culture Books Cheltenham Literature Festival Share Share this article Email Twitter Facebook Link Save