Swallows
I am indulging myself this year...maybe the
impending seven O in October has something to do with it...maybe I am just
being self-indulgent. I often find a way to justify my next purchase
to myself, and this time (a 1963 Hermes 3000 typewriter - look it up!) is
justified by having enjoyed using Auntie Mary's Imperial Good Companion
portable, but finding it a bit sketchy; and Emily really enjoying using
that strange machine that writes directly onto paper at your behest.
My first piece of writing [I will need to practise some more as my
typewriting skills have degraded due to exclusive use of word processing
for the past 40 years!] was done shortly after opening the package that
arrived this sunny afternoon, a piece that I had thought of writing
earlier in the day, about the swallows at Phoenix Barn...
These are the four latest chicks, before they
flew...
[Ed: latest news, 22nd April 2024.]
2024 Swallows' return
They are back in 2024: the 3rd annual visit of
swallows to Phoenix Barn garage. This looks like the 'old couple',
who presumably came into my garage two years ago, just before Ben was
killed. This morning, they are sitting on the wire outside the
garage, occasionally flying in to check things out, whilst in the
background a small flock of swallows circle and swoop high in the
sky...are these their 12 off-spring from the last two years?
Will any of their youngsters be allowed to use
the garage for their brood? How long will the old couple (if this is
indeed the old couple) carry on breeding? The BTO has the oldest
known swallow from time of ringing to be 11 years old (mind, that was back
in 1936...), and the longest know nesting site was 50 years.
Although the average age for swallows to survive is only 2 years (they do
live a precarious life, flying to and from South Africa every year!).
I also hope that they are well enough established (and used, from previous
years, to activity in the garage) so that the installation of the new
garage doors, which will take place, I hope, in the next couple of weeks
(before I go off to Sardinia) will not disrupt their breeding. The
middle doors will remain open as much as possible during the summer, but
the 'swallow windows' will definitely by fully open from April to October:
Hopefully, all this will be in place, with the swallows first brood well
established by the time of our 2024 reWake on Saturday 15th June.
(Might see you then?)
¡Que haya luz! Kerenza ha yeghes da! Dad/Grandpa/Andrew x