The first Swallow (Blip) of the summer

When I set myself a challenge this week to get a good photo of a swallow in flight I didn't realise how hard it was going to be .

I thought it would be easy as my garden backs on to a field that has recently had cows in it so there is a good source of insects buzzing near the ground for the Swallows to eat. What I hadn't taken into account is that Swallows seem to fly somewhere near the speed of light and can turn 90 degree corners like they are on rails !. I might as well have tried to photograph a bullet coming towards me.

A tripod is useless with them moving so fast so the only option was hand held and hope to get them when they flew in a straight line. After about 100 tries I got this which will have to do for now, the rest are all just green backgrounds with a dark smudge somewhere in it.