Thursday 18 June 2009

Flying lessons

No not me or M, the swallows.

When I went to let the hens out of their run yesterday for their 2 hours of free ranging I noticed a lot of swallows flying around in the open sided barn where we keen the hens most of the time now (not really fox proof but close to the house and stops them running off down the lane to the pub). About 3 or 4 of these swallows didn't have the long tails and were a lot smaller than the ones with the long tails; they must be the babies and they are learning to fly and eat on the wing. It is very funny to watch.

There seems to be an adult bird in the lead with the little ones following behind in an avian 'follow my leader'. They appeared to be practicing the 'lets fly as fast as possible and then stop suddenly before we crash into the barn' maneuver and the little ones were getting it. Every now and again they all congregate on the roof girders for a 'pep talk'. Great to watch but impossible to capture on film. I am quite surprised as I didn't think they would be ready yet, but adding to the belief that the young are out of the nest is the fact that we don't get dive bombed anymore when we go into or near the barn where the swallows were nesting.

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