Swallows and Swifts make the summer
May 27, 2010 by Bird
Filed under Blog, Fauna, Good Stuff, On My Travels, Summer
I look forward to seeing my first swallow of the year. Usually in the London area they arrive around the 15th April – an astonishing feat of punctuality when you consider the vast distance they travel. Some however get it wrong; I once saw a single bird hawking over Connaught Water in Epping Forest in thick March snow, and wondered if swallows mightn’t be better off if they had evolved the ability to hibernate as people once believed they did, in the mud at the bottom of lakes.
They’ve been around the south of England for over a month now, the screeching daredevil Swifts arriving not long after. In truth it is swifts we see most often in my part of London – exhilarating and rowdy they mob and scatter between the house roofs, impossible to catch on film, for me at least. And to tell the truth I don’t even try, the clue to the pleasure of watching swifts is in the name.
Once I was lucky enough to be doing a bit of work on a local nature reserve when a gigantic mixed flock of swallows and martins swooped in and wheeled and twittered in their thousands over the water – the site comprises grassland and a disused reservoir. It was exhilarating, beautiful and it was my first day there – in my eagerness, I’d turned up early. I thought that every day would start like this. When the ranger arrived he told me I’d been lucky, because I’d actually seen the birds arrival from Africa – it was indeed April 15th.
Last September when camped on the Isles of Scilly, we watched the swallows in their restless gathering as they prepare for the gruelling journey back to Africa. Sitting on a hot deserted beach on the tiny island of Gugh, we watched as twenty or more arrowed back and forth across the sand just a few inches above the ground, effortlessly changing course over stationary and moving obstacles as they hawked for sand flies. I aimed my camera at them as they flashed past and caught nothing but blurs, but then again, sharpness isn’t the point. Frozen perfection would never get across how it felt to watch these mercurial creatures.
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I saw our first swallows a few minutes ago outside the window where my computer is situated! There were maybe five or so circling around the side of the house where we have a birdhouse. The English Sparrows arrived early and have produced two families so far. If the Swallows find it temporarily empty (I’m hoping) they can claim it. They haven’t done so for about six years, and I loved them so much.
Your photos are *thrilling*!
How fantastic! I hope they do claim it, there’s no better neighbours
I love it that you saw them not long after I must’ve posted this – lovely coincidence.
Perfect photos! You’ve captured all the flash and speed of these acrobatic birds.
Thank you Vicki! They were amazing to watch that day, as you say so acrobatic!
Hi Bird
‘sharpness isn’t the point.”…but excitement is, and you’ve captured so much of it in these excellent shots. I’m impressed (as usual) by your knowledge and working experience.
You certainly deserve your “name”
xhenry
Hello Henry, and thank you! I didn’t think I’d stand a chance of getting any pictures at all of the swallows, and couldn’t really see what I’d got until I came home. I have to say I was really thrilled with the result, because although the pictures are not conventionally “good” they really do have a sense of the bird in them. I can’t take any credit as I really was just pointing in roughly the right direction and pressing a button. And regarding my experience? I’m a Jack of all trades, master of none as the saying goes – prepared to try anything once
It is wonderful to see the new first of year arrivals. The swallows are amazing birds to see.
I agree Eileen, it’s always a thrill when the swallows return!
How well you put the ‘magic’ into words and thank you for saying that the clarity of the photos isn’t the point. I think people might get caught up in the perfect photo without seeing the real beauty around them. Amazing how they birds travel so many miles and at the same time too..what do they know..what clues do they use to time it so perfectly?… Mother Nature’s Magic…Michelle
Wouldn’t it be wonderful to experience a day in the life of one of these birds, feel for ourselves how they can fly so acrobatically and how it is they sense the changing of the seasons? A beautiful life but a hard one sometimes – the struggle to find enough food and the terrible journey across the sahara… but then, sleeping on the wing when the summers work is done. Amazing birds, really truly amazing.
Very nice. We’ve had swallows for a while now (along the lakefront,) but only recently do they seem to have moved inland.
How cool to see them arrive every year, so punctual almost to the day! We do have migrating species that either winter or summer here, but I don’t think any type of bird arrives so predictably. (Though, perhaps I have simply not been observant enough, which is very possible.)
The pictures really do capture a sense of being surrounded by those flitting, speeding wonders. I need to remember when taking pictures that a sharp focus isn’t an absolute necessity in a good photograph- that communicating the mood of the moment may require a more creative touch. So often I am disappointed when my photos end up with a softer focus- perhaps I should be shooting to maximize that look, rather than trying to surmount my camera’s limitations.