They're back!... But how many swallows make a summer?

With impeccable timing, the swallows arrived back in Esh yesterday, signalling that maybe - just maybe - summer is finally on its way. Traditionally, according to the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, the first passeriformes should be the sand martins sometime in March, followed by the house martins, with the swallows appearing in the second half of April. Aristotle might have been sceptical, the Greek philosopher being responsible for the saying, 'One swallow does not a summer make, nor one fine day', but here's hoping avian activites in Esh are to prove him wrong this year!