A cold front has come through, and the harsh wind yesterday seemed to drive the insects and birds lower, In late afternoon yesterday we went to Mai Po and found a flock that was mainly Barn Swallows in front of the Tower Hide, just above water level. Here are some birds that WEREN'T Barn Swallows Asian House Martin Red-rumped Swallow Pale Martins - race fohkinensis

SOUTHWOLD SWALLOWS 27 – CHELMSFORD LADIES 7 The Southwold Swallows welcomed Chelmsford on what had to be the windiest afternoon of the season. Expecting nothing more than a hard fixture with Chelmsford being top of the league. Southwold knew it would not be an easy afternoon of rugby. It was the...

... road. Here he brought her food and attended to her with love and compassion. He brought her food again but was shocked to find her dead. He tried to move her...a rarely-seen effort for swallows! Aware that his sweetheart is dead and will never come back to him again, he cries with adoring love. He stood beside her, saddened of her death. Finally aware she would never return to him, he stood ...

Whilst carrying out a Webs count during atrocious weather conditions this AM on Castlemartin Corse with Morris North, we watched 2 Swallows hawking around farm buildings close to Castlemartin Church. Also... a Chiff in the graveyard and a Brambling in the vicinity of the nearby sewerage works.

... . But what did we think? What did thought set afire in us? We have no idea, no inkling. How could we have? Dogma was greater than us. Dogma was broader, more generous. Weren't we only swallows in the updraft? Weren't we leaves swept up in an autumn storm? Perhaps we didn't think anything at all: how could we know? Perhaps we simply wandered out into the snow and got lost. ...

Zoey has learned to dress herself. And when I say "learned to dress herself" what I really mean to say is "suck it Sartorialist." Here we have her Saturday ensemble for a trip to the zoo accompanied by a certain pose insouciante she adopted when I told her it was too warm for a hat, too cold for a swimsuit, the world too bitter for cherry leg warmers no matter the weather. ...