Bird Day.

Another cold and grey day this time without much in the way of rain. It feels as if summer was over once we'd had the solstice.

At lunchtime I walked over to my neighbours' with a bag of the chocolate cookies I'd baked. I also took a new lunging rein, something that had been in my hoard but I'm sure they will have more use for it than I ever will.

Walking over there the 2 goose families were grazing on the grass by the lake. There was also a group of 5 female ducks who came straight up to me completely unafraid. They were obviously used to being hand fed. Sarah told me that they had been given 6 ducks as a swap for some of their young white doves but one had gone off on its own straight away. Maybe it has taken up with one of the wild drakes that come to the lake. Sarah also told me that there are a pair of herons hanging around.

I asked about the pony that had to be put down and it was Doris, one of the dark brown Dartmoor ponies born here.

As it wasn't raining I put on my old gardening coat and spent the afternoon weeding the path in the scree garden. I find it very relaxing with the sound of the wind and the birds. A perfect time to put the world to rights in my head. Then I looked up to see a couple of baby swallows taking short flights and landing back on the roof of the outbuildings. 

They may be able to fly but they still called to the adults for food and every now and again one would land on the roof with food for the youngsters. The insects must have been low down because when I walked across the field the swallows were swooping only a few feet above the grass. Later as I was kneeling on the path picking up leaves and moss I looked up to see a swallow narrowly miss my head. They're such good fliers that they've never collided with me even when they are swooping through the doorways.