The Barn Swallows are back!

The swallows have arrived back from Africa! We watched them fly in and out of the stables and hope they will take up residence again. I am always so excited when I see the first swallows appear and this excitement is contagious as I pass it on to the children!! It gives me such joy to see them fly together, and I am totally in awe of the long journey they have made to come to that long distance to nest in our barns and stables!! We watch them fly up and down doing the “swallow dance”, catching insects on the wing and never needing to land! The air is alive with insects, as the children well know, so plenty of food for swallows. We listened to their chirpy song, on our model/toy swallow and now can hear it for real as the sky is filled with swallow song!!

Now we are waiting for the cuckoo, he should be arriving from Africa shortly. The children love the old nursery rhyme :

The cuckoo comes in April,

She sings her song in May,

In the middle of June,

She changes her tune

And July she flies away.