The swallows are leaving...

Still a glorious indian summer here in the Cotswolds. I should have been working but I played truant and spent the afternoon out in the lanes on my bike. I finally stopped to take photos of swallows gathering on the wires in a nearby village, preparing for their big migration. Such tiny things to travel thousands of miles; I haven't seen a gathering like this for years and the old gentleman whose garden I was stood outside came out and we chatted about birds and local news, for an hour or so until I remembered I was supposed to be working and he remembered some cement he had started mixing.

Now the curtains really are falling on summer as our little visitors leave for warmer shores - safe journey to them.