Summer

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Working in the garden and the air full of swooping swallows. 
Not our pair and their brood but over twenty carving perfect arcs out of a blue sky, passing near enough for me to hear their wings.
Swooping over the house, down to the pond, mysterious, intense, focussed.
Is this what they must do to know how to return?
They gather on the telephone wires.
Don't go.  Don't go.
I am not ready.

Comments

  1. Anna26 July 2011 at 22:18

    What a special sight that must have been Elizabeth. Maybe as you suggest they are gathering intelligence to help them return home in the future. Your post has made me chuckle as here today the air was full of gigantic flying ants and I was saying go in no uncertain terms.

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  2. Exmoorjane26 July 2011 at 22:19

    I do love your blog... :) I can so imagine you there...and the memories make me smile..

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  3. Karen - An Artist's Garden26 July 2011 at 23:08

    What a lovely picture you have given us tonight and such a coincidence as I was watching a large group of swallows this afternoon and thinking surely it is not time for you leave
    K

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  4. chrisartist27 July 2011 at 00:22

    A lovely image
    Enjoy your weather. Please let it be a nice September, I'm on a count down.
    Chris

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  5. MsCaroline27 July 2011 at 01:12

    What a picture! Smiling while I imagine it and wishing I could see it.

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  6. Pondside27 July 2011 at 03:59

    Go? Nooooooo! Ours have only just come out to swoop and play.

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  7. Tattieweasle27 July 2011 at 07:14

    No it is too early to go. They will take their leave when they know every inch and carry it with them safely to return again...

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  8. Alison27 July 2011 at 09:11

    How lovely, they are a joy to watch aren't they? We were doing just that on Sunday evening (Gin & Tonic in hand) perfect!

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  9. The Weaver of Grass27 July 2011 at 09:31

    I hate it when they begin to gather on the wires. Our farm seems to be a stopping off point on their way South and as the season progresses we often have two or three hundred on the wires. But not yet - some of our nests are just beginning their third brood.

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  10. Marcheline27 July 2011 at 10:13

    We've had swallows thick in the air this summer, too - sometimes their cries fool me into thinking they are goldfinches, but that is only because this year the goldfinches have been so few and I've been listening for them so hard. Nary a hummingbird, either, although I've been putting out fresh nectar since early May.

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  11. Chris Stovell27 July 2011 at 14:24

    Gosh, I do hope they're not making plans to leave just yet. It doesn't seem a moment since they arrived (hmm, sounding like my own granny there!).

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  12. Celia Hart27 July 2011 at 14:31

    Oh so few swallows around here this year. And even fewer swifts - I miss them so much.

    I envy you with those swooping swallows.

    Celia

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  13. Crafty Green Poet27 July 2011 at 20:34

    oh how lovely, here it's the swifts, flying above our roofs in the centre of Edinburgh. Interestingly I've seen more swallows around Edinburgh this year, which is great! I agree entirely, it surely cant be time for them to be starting to think about leaving!

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  14. Anonymous27 July 2011 at 20:46

    Not yet!

    I haven't noticed any yet (despite being just up the hill from Karen)but all my rose hedges are covered in bright red hips and the rowan is laden. I've been out and spoken to them both - it's definitely not time!!

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  15. Anonymous27 July 2011 at 20:46

    Not yet!

    I haven't noticed any yet (despite being just up the hill from Karen)but all my rose hedges are covered in bright red hips and the rowan is laden. I've been out and spoken to them both - it's definitely not time!!

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  16. Liz27 July 2011 at 21:13

    Our swallows, which had nested in the old farm buidings, left possibly 2 weeks ago. I miss them trying to intimidate me away from their nests when out in the garden. I am ashamed to say I know little of birds,having grown up on a farm. We just took them for granted!
    But now I think that high summer is over and the light is on the wane and the nights are closing in (as we say in Ireland).

    Poetic writing from Wales!

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  17. Elizabeth Musgrave27 July 2011 at 22:56

    Anna - it was wonderful but it is very quiet in the air here today!
    Exmoorjane - thank you! I love yours too x

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  18. Elizabeth Musgrave27 July 2011 at 23:01

    Karen - I really think they may have gone. The apples are being harvested down south several weeks early and I think the swallows might be keeping time with them!
    Chris - September is usually a good month here. Are you venturing to North Wales? Hope so!
    Caroline - very much not a Seoul blog I suspect.

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  19. Elizabeth Musgrave27 July 2011 at 23:05

    Pondside - you may be behind us I think. We had a very long, early warm spring here when you were in rain and cold so things are a bit upside down here.
    Tattie - I was astonished by the sense that they were imprinting every inch. They nest in the pigsties and the house doesn't seem to interest them normally but it was as if the house (which is white limewashed) is a landmark. They went back and forward time and again over the roof. Not seen them do that at all before.
    Alison - they are a joy to watch. I never understand why people are so moved by them but there is no doubt that they are, we are.

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  20. Elizabeth Musgrave27 July 2011 at 23:09

    Weaver - two or three hundred must be amazing! There are groups all around here but they seem to be about thirty or so.
    Marcheline - humming birds? Have you any idea how exotic that sounds to us here in the UK? Goldfinches we do get but not quite yet, in a couple of weeks maybe.
    Chris - grannydom comes to us all. I have just had the awful sensation of looking at a photo of me which Ian took where I look like my granny!

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  21. Around My Kitchen Table28 July 2011 at 07:35

    Swallows are nesting in my garage. Having poo-spattered car is a very small price to pay for having these lovely birds swooping in the sky.

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  22. silverpebble28 July 2011 at 16:44

    They're not going yet! Not yet!

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  23. Elizabeth Musgrave28 July 2011 at 22:10

    Celia it is odd how swallows move us isn't it? And swifts too!

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  24. The Red Witch29 July 2011 at 12:48

    I noticed your last blog update disappeared but had to do with blogging on the iPad. When you go to the 'new post' screen, above the window where you type the body of your post, there is an html tab. Press that. I have been able to write blogs on my ipad, I just had to change format.

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  25. Pam 29 July 2011 at 14:02

    Lovely post but no, I'm not ready either. Here in Scotland my sweet peas aren't nearly flowering yet so it has to be summer for some time!

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  26. Frances29 July 2011 at 15:18

    Thank you for showing me beauty that is not available over here in my city neighborhood. I feel very refreshed by this visit to your place!

    xo

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  27. Elizabeth Musgrave29 July 2011 at 15:44

    Craft green poet - I hate to say it but I think they have gone. It is way too early.
    Beangenie - my rowan is full of berries too. It's only July for heaven's sake!
    Liz - ah if you have lost yours in Ireland perhaps it is not surprising that ours are on the way too.
    AMKT - I know people who hate having swallows or swifts because of the mess. There is a mess, as you say, but worth it every time for me!

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  28. Elizabeth Musgrave29 July 2011 at 15:46

    Silverpebble - I think so. Haven't seen any today or yesterday. Sigh.
    Red Witch - thanks for the tip. I shall try it.
    Isabelle - my sweetpeas are flowering away so that is some small consolation I suppose. Do the swallows get as far North as you?
    Frances - you have other beauties where you live I think!

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