Talk Morgan Forums Thread Like Summary - One swallow does not a summer make

Thankfully there were hundreds of swallows this morning at my home from home, summer must be coming!
Beautiful to watch them fly and close enough to touch.
Sorry it’s only phone quality….





.

Attached Images

It’s a wet start to Father’s Day, didn’t stop me heading to the woods though, this wee critter seemed quite content with the weather.
Baby Reindeer……

In the shed yesterday with the door open - a swallow flew in and tried to leave via the window. I actually picked him/her up and took it to the door and released him non the worse for the experience. It felt uplifting to handle this lightweight, delicate little bird who had arrived here all the way from Africa under his own steam - remarkable. Great photos Ewan, thank you.

We are on a migration route here so we get quite a few groups pass through before "ours" arrive. Mainly House Martins and Swifts settle here for the summer. "Ours" have been here for a couple of weeks now.

A little further north of here at the we were surprised to see Swallows in winter and we were told that they are an alpine variety, in English they would seem to be called Crag Martins. It seems that they send summer in the Alps, nesting in the cliffs, and then winter at the lower levels. You can still get a lot of snow where we saw them but the river never freezes so apparently the cold does not worry them and the get enough insects to live.

At the end of summer it is a little sad to see "ours" depart but the continueing migration lasts several weeks, ours are always the first to leave and the last to arrive so I suppose they must winter further south than the later departures.

Central and South America. Agree, really amazing the distance these little birds travel.