Beauty in the Air

How can it be mid-August already? We don’t seem to have had much of a summer, particularly with all the damp weather we experienced in July. Nevertheless, nature carries on all around us and the swifts have already begun their long journey to sub-Saharan Africa, it only seemed like yesterday when I heralded their arrival in May. Most cuckoos have also long since left for Africa, returning to our shores late next March. One summer migrant which is still present and will be until at least October, is my favourite, the swallow or barn swallow to quote its other name.

My love affair with this charming little bird started as a child after reading The Happy Prince by Oscar Wilde. Although it is a children’s book, it can still be enjoyed in one’s later years and the themes of friendship, love, devotion and selflessness are attributes than can often seem absent in today’s world.

Swallows are magical birds, weighing no more than 25g, their dark, shiny blue backs, rustic throats, pale underparts and long tail streamers make them easily recognisable and to me they always seem happy when they fly above you in Summer, chattering away to one another. Nothing says Summer quite like a swallow, you imagine picturesque village greens with a church, thatched cottages and swallows dancing on air or gliding across the fields on a fine summer’s day, thoughts of more simpler times.

Although UK populations of the swallow have declined by 23% since 1995, they are still listed as green on the British Trust for Ornithology’s Birds of Conservation Concern, unlike their cousins the house martin, which are listed as red. Unfortunately, I cannot see this still being the case when the next report is released in around five years’ time. Swallows are susceptible to changes in climate in both their wintering and breeding areas, with a decline in insects making available food more difficult to find. Loss of habitat is also an issue with changes in farming methods and renovation of barns and outbuildings also adding to their plight. It would truly be a tragedy if this beautiful bird was to vanish from our countryside.

Swallows work hard whilst they are here, often raising two or three broods of chicks with most of their time spent in the air. Once the parenting is done, they then embark on a 6,000 miles journey to South Africa, where they will spend the winter, a journey which will take them around six weeks, stopping only to roost in the hours of darkness. Sadly, many don’t make the journey, falling victim to starvation and predation. In recent years a small number of birds have attempted, in some years successfully, to overwinter in the UK, a trend which may continue with the continuing challenges of climate change.

Swallows are the subject of many myths and folklore with associations to good luck, safe travels, love and loyalty to name but a few. Many sailors traditionally had swallow tattoos to symbolise sailing expertise, good luck and freedom. Swallows have always meant something special to many people, young and old. To me, it is several things why they are special, their sheer beauty, the long journey they make to get here, often to the same nest site year after year, the fact that they pair for life and their sight and sound have a truly calming effect on me. The feeling I experience when I spot my first one of the Spring is pure exhilaration.

The photographs below are of the pair of swallows that I have been following for a few years now, which nest between the cast iron beams underneath the roof over the platform at Carnforth railway station, you can really see their beautiful colours in these shots. It is a joy to visit them each year and watch them rear their chicks.

Before the Summer is out, I would like to make one recommendation, weather permitting, go out into countryside, take a picnic, lie back and enjoy the chattering of the swallows above, gaze in wonder at the spectacle of them dancing on air and hold that memory forever and anticipate their return in the Spring.