Weekly wildlife

We have had quite a week of wildlife encounters, most of which I failed to photograph. You will just have to use your imagination in picturing the scene. However, the sharp-eyed reader will already have spotted some feathered friends here, so I should start with those - even though they were the last encounters chronologically.

Indeed, the swallows are back, and apparently once again nesting in the new site they found last year after losing our old barn. These two sweeties look to me like youngsters from that brood; I'm pretty sure the parents were a bit older than these.

Earlier in the week we ran into a hold-up when a group of lambs decided to wander into the middle of the road on Strensall Common. I was really sorry not to have the camera. Every time we inched the car forward to move them, they just ran on down the middle of the road. Then their mum called them and they wandered off.

We have had quite a few hold-ups generally, due to tractors, caravans and lambs. However, with the oilseed rape now flowering spectacularly, we have been driving through fields of gold, bright even on the rainy days. However, if we have to stop for long we pretty much always get to see a rabbit; one of the roundabouts had quite a few baby bunnies sunning themselves early in the morning. And the local barn owls are very busy at most times of day just now, so we have been seeing them gliding across the road a few times.

All this frantic activity is quite exhausting, so I'll leave you with another picture of our lovely swallows. It's a bit sad the drainpipe is coming out of its head, but sneaking up on it to take the picture is hard enough, so don't expect composition as well!