They left me this morning. Just packed up and went.

[Saggital]

September. I knew it was coming of course. Just finding it hard at the moment.

It has been a wonderful Summer. Just like the last, all here together again and lots of time in the garden chattering away. The weather has been blooming brilliant of course and that helps. But Summer is over. They needed to get back and I guess they chose just to go.

I miss them. That's all.

OP, I agree having swallows around is lovely, but your title, assuming this isn’t all terribly tongue in cheek, makes it sound as if you are taking their departure awful personally. I mean, it’s the annual migration, not someone flouncing out on a relationship and slamming the door...?

Did that latest post come from a Gcse paper? 😂😂😂😂

Is this an excerpt from The People's Friend Annual? .

Whether it's DC or House Martens, you can apply balm to your crushed soul by investing in a hedgehog house and spending all afternoon positioning for maximum hibernation potential. It has given DH hours of pleasure and made him feel all autumnal.

I mean, it’s the annual migration, not someone flouncing out on a relationship and slamming the door...?

Inez.....give me some rope here, humour me. After all we are in Chat and Fun & Games.

Oh dear op.

Did that latest post come from a Gcse paper?

you can apply balm to your crushed soul by investing in a hedgehog house and spending all afternoon positioning for maximum hibernation potential

Got that already Lovely! And an insect house the size of a greenhouse.

OP would you consider buying/adopting a parrot?

They need a lot of attention but can be great company and v entertaining.

Anyway. Before I was so rudely interrupted.

The swallows have gone. It has been a good year. For us humans and our barbeques (or however that's spelt). It has been a bad year too. More plastic than ever before on our screens. And this summer has kind of sharpened this life thing for us here. We need to stop and smell the roses more, before they are gone.

Less shit on your washing though

The swallows may be gone but the house spiders are coming out in force to find mates. We can all do our bit by leaving their webs alone and turning our homes into arachnid-friendly oases .It's an excuse to do less cleaning.
A spider is every bit as good as a swallow and less germy.

Shit's OK. There would be no humans if we didn't like shit.

80s the nuthatches and most of the finches seem to leave our garden in spring. We’ve got woodland across the road so I think they only visit when they’re short if food. I love having all the different birds coming to feed
The robins wait for me to put seed out in a morning, one will fly on to my hand to feed

They might have gone from your garden op, but it's still early for them to have gone completely. Your vistors will have moved on a bit to fatten up, often don't go back till end of September. Dh saw loads on his local patch feeding on the pond.It's when the swifts go that you know summer is almost gone.

I know OP. The minute I see them lining up along the phone wires I feel so sad and melancholy. It really is the end of summer.

We have swifts too, but they go much earlier. I miss them too, even though they make so much noise.

I’m glad you had swallows this year op, even if you do sound completely and utterly barking mad.

We have always had 3 nests - one in the waves of the house and two on the garage. My bedroom is in the loft with velum windows. I love lying in bed early I’m the morning with the blinds up, watching the swallows zoom past. Not one swallow this year, nests all empty. The same in the barn which has always had several nests, all still untouched. Swallow numbers are absolutely plummeting and I think it’s really sad.

*eaves
*velux

They might have gone from your garden op, but it's still early for them to have gone completely. Your vistors will have moved on a bit to fatten up, often don't go back till end of September

Bastards. Fucking cheating bastards. I wanted them to have flown back to Africa today. Not shack up with that bimbo down the lane, ffs. They're not coming back next year. If they do I will put their nests on the doorstep. In plastic bags. They can just fuck the fuck off now.

What are swifts like exactly? Tell me more please, I am all ears.

Ours have all gone too
I miss them , their beautiful flying displays and the lovely singing
They’ve left early
Though I think ours were a mix of swallows, house martins and swifts
They were so quick , it was difficult to ID them

www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/wildlife-guides/bird-a-z/swift/

I’m sorry your swallows have gone already OP. Ours are still here, although they’re doing the thing where they all sit on the same roof and make a racket, I think they’re planning the route and making sure the youngsters can all fly right. The cat doesn’t miss them when they go, he gets buzzed by them when he crosses the yard!

There is an old country saying, that when the swifts return, the tortoise will arise from hibernation. Tortoises have been kept as pets in Britain for 300 years.

Swifts are lovely too. We get them in London. I visit family a lot further north and they have swallows and house martins but not swifts. Swifts fly higher than swallows and are very fast (hence the name, I suppose). They arrive in early May and leave in early August once they've bred. They migrate to the south of the Sahara for the winter.

I see from the RSPB website that swallows go to South Africa for the winter. That's mindboggling, isn't it. Those tiny little creatures flying all that way.

Bastards. Fucking cheating bastards. I wanted them to have flown back to Africa today. Not shack up with that bimbo down the lane, ffs. They're not coming back next year. If they do I will put their nests on the doorstep. In plastic bags. They can just fuck the fuck off now.

Well, that escalated quickly.

Saggital what a beautiful post. If you're not a writer already please become one.