Our Barn Swallows have left !
By Risto Jäntti
Now it is already clear that the last of our Barn Swallows left last
Saturday, September 10. In the afternoon the Barn Swallows were still swallows flying in the yard but since
then there has been no sign of our swallows. I am both sad and relieved at the same time. Sad because having
enjoyed them for four months and three days they have now gone and there is a long wait of eight months without
Barn Swallows ahead. The barn and the yard are so silent. I know I will still be watching into the sky in hopes of
seeing Barn Swallows. Relieved because it was already high time for them to leave: although the weather has been
until now warmer than normally at this time of year, it is now getting rainy and colder.
It is still possible to
see migrating Barn Swallow flocks like those swallows I saw yesterday evening. There were about 20 birds coming
from the north just before sunset, circling for 15 minutes low over our yard and then disappearing, most likely to
roost in the reed bed 800 m away.
16 September
Yesterday, September 15, in the afternoon I saw
still 5 migrating Barn Swallows flying over our yard and heading south. That happened between
strong showers, when the sun shined for a short moment. They must have been the very last of the last
Barn Swallows escaping the autumn coldness soon arriving here. Today the weather was sunny and
relatively warm but there was not one single Barn Swallow in the sky. Is it not amazing that at the same
time as the first Barn Swallows have already reached South Africa, the last ones are still here in Middle
Finland on their journey south!
Pepper looks out towards the lake
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