For you are beautiful....

.....and I have loved you dearly,
        more dearly than the spoken word can tell....
                      The Last Farewell, Ronald Webster/Roger Whittaker

Heres an interesting coincidence....well, possibly....ever heard of John Masefield?  Me neither, till today.  Im guessing you have certainly heard of Roger Whittaker.

About 50 Swallows went over the pits, along with 20 or more Sand Martin and, from what I could see, a solitary House Martin.
So, if you pass this way occasionally you will know I stick in a line from a popular song to introduce the days particular entry....always in hope that it resonates with the subject.
So, thinking of a way to describe the whole migration thing and not wishing to repeat what I have started with over the last few weeks, the above line came to me....not a song I have in my collection but a song that many people know anyway.
Then I thought, Roger Whittaker was born in Africa somewhere....it turns out in Kenya.  So, an immediate connection....Swallows heading over the pits southward to Africa....and certainly some will be heading to Kenya for the winter.
This is where John Masefield comes in.  He lived in Cheadle, Staffordshire.  One of the early pioneer bird ringers.
People knew birds migrated, but where to?  A ring, B830, is slipped on to a Swallow chick in the porch of John Masefields house in 1911.
18 months later Harry Witherby, founder of the journal British Birds, receives a letter from C H Ruddock of Utrecht, Natal, South Africa, stating the Swallow had been trapped and the ring removed on 23 December 1912.
Even today its hard to fathom how birds migrate.  Comprehension of such a major task when we cant seem to get more than a few miles without getting lost.  Even that Swallow had flown to Africa and back to Europe somewhere and back to Africa again before being detained...meaning it had already, possibly, flown 18,000 miles!

0730 - 0930 Overcast, cool but clearing to blue sky and warm.

Robin, Starling, Woodpigeon, Blackbird, Wren, Blue Tit, Chiffchaff, Green Woodpecker, Great Tit, Goldcrest, Long Tail Tit, Feral Pigeon, Crow, Jackdaw, Magpie, Jay, Buzzard, Linnet, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Yellowhammer, Blackcap, Meadow Pipit, Bullfinch.

66 Mallard, 6 Tufted Duck, 124 Coot, 9 Gadwall, 6 Cormorant, 13 Mute Swan, 150++ Greylag Geese, 100++ Canada Geese, 14 Black Headed Gull.