The swallows here (West Yorkshire) lined up on the telegraph wires last Sunday morning (6th August)making a hell of a racket and flying around for ages, then they all went, presumably back to Africa.
Isn't this a bit early for their migration, haven't seen any round here since then?
There was a farmer/gardener on This Morning this week,who predicts the weather by what he notices in nature around him. He remarked that his swallows had left in July, and that is a sign of a hard winter to come. There are also early ripening blackberries etc to help the birds fatten up for his predicted hard winter!
my garden is full of mushrooms/toadstools and the grass has gone that bright autumn green. Some of the local oak trees have started to shed golden leaves, not the dry green ones they shed in a drought, and most tellingly to me, my mimosa is well on in bud. This doesn’t usually happen until september/october.