As I cycled into work this morning, with the blazing sun warming my back, the countryside somehow seemed more alive. The dog walkers, normally bleary-eyed and seemingly unimpressed that their pampered pooch has got them out of bed, were chirpier and only too happy to say 'morning'. Seems like a little bit of sun has the UK happy!
A swallow swooped past, using those long tail streamers to aerobatically chase the myriad of insects that hovered, buzzed and fluttered above the wild flowers. It got me thinking about that old saying about swallows and summer.
Was it a sign that the perhaps the summer is really here? Or that maybe it'll last more than just a few days? Maybe the swallow knows, perhaps I'll see if it can take time out from munching insects to tell me on the way home!
So, in honour of the bringer of summer, I've found this image of one of our fork-tailed friends feeding it's newly fledged young. I love this image, it's a great shot and it looks hard work for the parent to feed its large offspring without landing! There's three chicks there and with the adult, perhaps four swallows makes a summer?
This great image was taken by Ray Kennnedy, and is from RSPB Images. There's photos from some top wildlife photographers on there, take a look and be inspired!
For more on our science, check out the RSPB Centre for Conservation Science web pages.