I stepped out of the front door to begin my journey to work. It was a beautiful morning, with the vibrant, green young leaves of the horse chestnuts illuminated perfectly. And there they were, bickering for space to perch on the telegraph wire. Our next-door neighbours, the swallows, were back!Lots of migrant birds have been held up by bad weather on the continent this spring, so it lifted my spirits to know that some of 'our' swallows had made it back. I saw my first swallow from the garden last week, but today's were the first to stay around. They swooped low over the garden and went to inspect last year's nest site, chattering constantly.I've checked my notes and last year they turned up on 21 April. Considering how far they've been - all the way to South Africa and back again - they didn't make bad time. Now they're here, they can get on with the important business of pairing up, nest-building, mating and raising chicks.Some other migrants I saw last week aren't quite ready to do that. On Wednesday, a band of clouds passed across the southern part of the UK. As well as quite a lot of rain, it dropped a large number of Arctic terns on some inland waters, including gravel pits not far from Sandy.Arctic terns are champion migrants, travelling further than any other bird species. These birds spent our winter months in the southern hemisphere's summer, feeding around the Antarctic pack ice, and I felt privileged to have witnessed their brief visit to Bedfordshire.
They not only have an amazing life cycle, but they're amazingly graceful, too: long, pale grey wings, a delicate, forked tail, smart black cap and blood-red beak. They almost danced across the water, picking tiny morsels of food from the surface.
Arctic terns also breed in Ireland, Anglesey and Scotland, as well as further north as their name suggests. Who knows where these terns were heading?