Farewell And Hello

The last Starling has finally left us and all is once again calm and peaceful. It seems strange without them. They arrived late this year, not coming to visit us until well into January, whereas nornally they are here in the autumn. In previous years, when they have arrrived late, it has been due to farmers not having been able to harvest all of their crops because of bad weather, and the Starlings making the most of a bountiful food supply.   Once they do arrive there is certainly no chance of missing their presence: the noise alone would be enough to notify you that they were in the area, but even if you managed to miss the babbling cacophony, you certainly wouldn't miss the hundreds, if not thousands of birds, swirling in the sky like a massive swarm of bees.

The countryside is never silent for long though, and only this morning I saw my first Swallow of the season: he swept in from my left and flew fast and low along the lane, then upwards and back to the left over the barbed-wire fence and the golden coconut scented gorse.  He  then disappeared across the fields and off into the distance towards the sea, but he, and many of his companions, will soon be back to grace us with their melodic song.