Richard Osman has revealed that a ‘lot of furious birdwatchers’ are on his case after he made an error in his latest novel.
Best-known for TV shows including Pointless and House of Games, in recent years Richard has also become a chart-topping writer, penning books including The Thursday Murder Club.
This weekend, the 55-year-old attended the Cheltenham Literature Festival to talk about his novel We Chase Shadows, the second instalment in his We Solve Murders series, which was published in September this year.
However, he admitted that he’s making a change to a small part of the story after writing that swifts – brown birds that migrate from Africa to the UK every year – eat worms.
‘I had a thing today that came through that was [a character called] 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,’ Richard said at the festival, The Times reported.
‘My editor said there are a lot of furious birdwatchers out there because they’re saying that swifts do not eat worms.’
Richard revealed that his editor recommended that he change the bird in the paperback version of his novel to a blackbird or a robin instead.
However, the TV presenter – who apologised to ornithologists at Cheltenham – suggested that they instead say that Vern ‘is not sure it’s swift’.
On the website for the RSPB (The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds), the organisation states that swifts ‘catch flying insects and spiders in the air, feeding high above the ground’.
Pointing out the inaccuracy about swifts in We Chase Shadows, one reader called Sarah wrote on Facebook: ‘Read it and really enjoyed it, with one slight niggle. I’m a bit nerdy about birds and at the start he has a swift catching a worm.
‘Swifts catch flies on the wing and only ever land to nest. Maybe change it to a blackbird or similar? I loved the book though and it made me laugh out loud on more than one occasion.’
Gordon also said: ‘Just currently enjoying We Chase Shadows and of course enjoying it immensely, except for one curiosity Richard, since when do swifts land on the ground and eat worms?
‘They’re well known for flying constantly and eating small flies and winged bugs. Apart from when they’re nesting they constantly fly. They are incapable of eating worms. Ornithology not your thing then or badly advised? ….. Still another good read though.’
One reader called Cordelia speculated that it could be intentional on Richard’s part, theorising: ‘I think it jumps out as such a glaring error that it must be deliberate… I tested a few of my non-bird expert friends and they knew what the problem was.
‘Richard is such a smart cookie that I reckon he must have put it in on purpose! Maybe as a bit of meta-irony type stuff.’
However, given Richard’s response at the Cheltenham Literary Festival, it appears this generous theory doesn’t have legs.