We have swallows here every year. The numbers have reduced over recent years and this year, only one pair nested.
Up to last Saturday, we were watching the adults zooming in and out of the window on the old stables and listening to the youngsters shouting "Me, Me" when the food appeared. We expected the youngsters to emerge any day now and start perching on suitable vantage points for the parents to complete the feeding cycle.
However, yesterday and today, no swallows - zilch, nada, nowt, nothing. Absolutely no sign of them. If the young have fledged, we cannot guess where they have gone. I have looked in the stables and no sign of anything.
It is far too early in the year for them to have pottered back to South Africa (they normally leave in September) unless, of course, they know something about forthcoming weather that we don't - in which case I am a little apprehensive!
A puzzle!
Up to last Saturday, we were watching the adults zooming in and out of the window on the old stables and listening to the youngsters shouting "Me, Me" when the food appeared. We expected the youngsters to emerge any day now and start perching on suitable vantage points for the parents to complete the feeding cycle.
However, yesterday and today, no swallows - zilch, nada, nowt, nothing. Absolutely no sign of them. If the young have fledged, we cannot guess where they have gone. I have looked in the stables and no sign of anything.
It is far too early in the year for them to have pottered back to South Africa (they normally leave in September) unless, of course, they know something about forthcoming weather that we don't - in which case I am a little apprehensive!
A puzzle!
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