The swallows left Sunday morning…swooping and diving around the house, filling the sky out over the water, their curious, melodious, trilling song filling the air as they bid us farewell. These summer residents have been such a part of each day, filling the sky with acrobatics breathtaking as they skim the water with millimetres to spare, dive, roll and swoop through the air. Now they start the long journey back to Africa, leaving us behind to face autumn and the cold Scottish winter.
And as if someone has pressed a button, the season has changed to autumn; nights have a nip in the air that wasn’t here a week ago. The swallows left on the 31st of August and by Monday the 1st the quality of the light had changed, somehow brighter and richer; even the trees are turning, changing their gowns to amber and gold.
Today the steady rhythm of the morning rain did nothing to dampen the enthusiasm of hungry birds crowing the feeders. When a red squirrel “captured” the one peanut feeder, the small birds are forced to scratch around underneath him to catch the bits of nuts that fall. Everything is gathering, preparing for the coming winter, laying in supplies.
~ My take on the traditional scone - Our "bread- and-butter" ~
Normally, Fall brings a respite from summer heat; I don't think we had one day over 19 degrees Celsius - OK maybe one or two, but as M says "the sun always shines in Scotland - it's just covered by clouds". We hope to have the benefits of a mild autumn, perhaps even an Indian summer. With summer being such a non-event, some gloriously sunny fall days would be a wonderful gift, bringing visitors to enjoy the countryside and cream teas at the Jolly Otter!
Apologies for the spacing problems - Blogger won't let me fix it!
