The tumblers and divers have finished their show and after a feast, to celebrate their time here with us in London, they''re preparing to set off on the long journey back to where they came from. Swifts are migrating back to their wintering grounds.
I'll miss them. But I know they'll be back. Hopefully all of those fantastic athletes and sporty folk who've been hanging around will return too. The Olympic Park in east London has momentarily been vacated by the masses of human visitors, leaving the site clear for wildlife to explore and enjoy. There's still the Paralympics to come [and YES - punches the air - I have tickets], so it's a very brief break in proceedings.
I'm hopeful that we'll see lots of birds, bats, bees, hedgehogs and newts take advantage of the new green spaces. Where once there were dodgy lock-ups that you didn't want to hang around after dark, there are now new parks, waterways and development opportunities.
Nature finds ways to colonise the most unlikely of habitats. It may start off with moss and lichen, but soon green shoots of bigger plants start to sprout. Big things come from small beginnings and that was evident in the park over the past few days. Athlete after athlete spoke of being new to their sport, but given the right circumstances, they were able to test themselves, push the boundaries, develop and grow to the point where they exceeded their dreams.
All livings thing share a dream of growing and developing. If only we could always provide the right circumstances for growth.