First swallows to fledge

This little chappie followed me into a shed and got stuck by the window. I removed the cobwebs from his feet and let him fly off, which he did very well considering he only started flying today.

   

Awww what a little cutie!

The last brood of swallows are just leaving the nest, saw the first youngster today. And in only a few weeks they will attempt to fly to sub-Saharan Africa, across the Med. and Sahara Desert. We were in Malawi a few years ago and saw swallows there and wondered if they could have come from one of the nests in our old coal-shed.

This little chappy is looking quite sanguine.

   

but this one looks a bit more fragile. Hopefully will strengthen up over the next 3 to 4 weeks, if they have that long.

   

Their parents came soon after to give them a feed.

We have had huge mixed flocks of swallows and martins swooping around each evening and then gathering on the wires before heading over the Pyrenees the next morning. Stunning, but also a sign of autumn.

I used to have loads visiting. They nested in a car port and used to poop on the lawnmower Loved them zipping past me when I walked to the garden and then one year nothing! They just didn't come back.

The loss of insects is having a catastrophic impact up the food chain and one result is fewer and fewer swallows. While we might think our little squirt of insecticide is solving one local problem, it is creating so many more on a big scale.