Swifts return to the West Country

As we worked on the college sustainability garden on Wednesday evening I saw two swifts overhead. It's quite hard to distinguish between distant swifts and martins but I am sure that these were swifts as I was first alerted to them by the distinctive squealing calls. High in the sky and circling dramatically with their little scythe-like wings they are a very welcome returning visitor. Such a part of the summer landscape as they swoop in screaming joyful gangs, dogfighting up and down School Hill in the centre of the village. Pointed at, by my then 5 year old son on the daily school walk, as 'snifts, snifts'.

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Cuckoo in Devon

Its hard to describe just how beautiful Devon is in the spring - see photos beneath. A wonderful bank holiday weekend camping with old diving friends in East Prawle, with two beautiful days on Mill Bay exploring the rock-pools and coastal walks. Several times over the weekend we heard the call of a cuckoo deep in the woods above the beach and watched jays, crows and buzzards flying over. The buzzards were clearly nesting and you could hear their distinctive calls among the high trees and I also saw one carrying a stick. The woods were exploding with new growth and the blue bells were astonishing, such a part of my childhood exploring the woods of Norfolk and Essex and such a distinctive part of the English seasonal landscape.

Devon Falcons and Adders

 Wonderful cliff-top walk around the headland from Mill Bay towards Gara Rock and Prawle Point. So much to see.

All looking through the binoculars for basking sharks and dolphins, as I've see them here many times in the past, but no luck and it was all we could do to keep up with the children running ahead on the high path. Saw two peregrine falcons hunting along the cliff face and actually saw one of them stoop, with wings folded back, arrow straight shooting towards the ground at an astonishing speed. The children found a small basking adder, which disappeared into the heather before I could photograph it, and we looked at bloody nose beetles and a beautiful little slow worm. The wonderful beach rock-pools were wonderfully clear and a lot of fun was had as we hunted and caught blennies and sand eels.

Note: Martin at work tells me that his dog was bitten on the nose by an adder this week. It has survived I believe but it's astonishing as we had talked about this only a few days earlier after I told him about the one that we saw in Devon.

Vobster Crayfish

Beautiful clear water at Vobster Quay Dive centre. This flooded quarry near Shepton Mallet is now well set up for free diving, open water swimming and scuba diving. Unable to dive tonight as I am putting my dive tanks in for test, but I stood at the water's edge wishing I could get in. Watched other divers kitting up and I tried to see crayfish amongst the submerged rocks, but no luck. This land-locked lake is also now a breeding site for the endangered British white clawed crayfish - although I have yet to see one and will be looking very carefully when I dive here with Graham in a couple of weeks.

Bluebells at Dunster Castle

Beautiful day at Dunster Castle  - The children running through the blue bells in the surrounding woodland.

Old Tree with Bricks.

Walking through Taunton town centre near to the river. Encountered this wonderful old tree and, as I am sure many children have before us, my children clambered onto it's huge lower branches. The ancient trunk has clearly absorbed a brick wall in it's long past, a slow growing amoeba powering on as our lives flit past. Trees and plants amaze me with their deceptive strength as buddleia push apart the walls of abandoned buildings and saplings climb up through pavements and so trees explode and absorb brick walls. If ever we leave this earth, for all of our accomplishments and constructions, the natural world will reclaim the surface of this planet in no time at all.

Swallows return from Africa.

I saw my first swallows sitting in a pair on the telephone cables on the Taunton road as we drove back from Saturday morning football. Tired after their long flight and looking resplendent with their distinctive tails. I conversation it turns out that a pair had returned to roost in a friend's horse barn earlier in the week and within a few days I was seeing them on fences and lines quite regularly. They were appearing in Norfolk as we arrived in Norfolk for Adam's party, perhaps making their way across the country having originally arrived in the south and West slightly earlier having flown up from over the continent.