23.04.15
Spring at McMurdoston only officially arrives once the swallows are back… and I’m glad to say that they arrived a couple of days ago. They seem to appear in the area, disappear tantalisingly for a day or two and then gather in greater numbers, before actually beginning the breeding process. Tonight they are back in the bike shed – my bike has been relegated to the gardening shed!
Other welcome Spring sightings include sand martins starting to build their nests in the banks on the Cairn River, a redstart in the small woodland at the top of our drive (along with a blackcap, garden warbler and willow warbler) and hundreds of tadpoles in the pond. Best of all, today we drove to Glenkiln where we saw Beltie calves, a crested grebe and heard a cuckoo.
