Isn't Nature wonderful.

[Sam Vimes]

This year we've had House Martins visit us. The came late in the year -August - and perhaps a little too late to start building a nest and they're fairly rare around the West Coast of Scotland and are on the Red List. We usually see some around the area but this is the first time they've visited us.

They are amazing to watch in flight, extremely graceful and agile, and they took a shine to flying in an around the car port. Often they would rest on the rafters but didn't actually attempt to build a nest, probably as its too late and they'll be migrating soon. They didn't seem to mind us being around.

The problem is that our caravan is parked in the car port and in preparation for their long migratory flight to Africa they feed up well but then lighten the load by pooing all over the caravan. So, every couple of weeks I get the ladders and hose out and wash down the roof and sides - just a quick hose and brush not the full works.

It's a small price to pay but I wish they would eat more midges to earn their keep as it were.

They seem to have disappeared now so hopefully today was the last time of poo cleaning. They'll be welcome back next year of course.

 

[GaryB]

We get a proliferation of bats flying around in the summer evenings, there's an old railway tunnel not far away that's been bricked up, but with holes for bats to nest in and I suspect they come from there. When we had a dog she'd sit there on the patio watching the bats, never chasing them as I think she viewed it as too much like hard work to chase something that flew in such a random manner.

I like the way that nature seems "content" with itself while mankind follows a path of greed, jealousy and destruction.