Diary: April 2003

One Swallow doth not a summer make...but I could be forgiven for thinking so this morning. I was sitting on the garden bench by the pond enjoying a few quiet minutes before work on the warmest day of the year so far (and the warmest April day for 50 years apparently) and I heard the familiar warbling chatter above my head. I looked up to see my first swallow (Hirundo rustica) this year.

And this evening in the garden I caught sight of my first bat this year. No idea what species of course - they're so hard to tell apart, though on the balance of probabilities, I suppose it was probably a Pipistrelle (Pipistrellus pipistrellus).