Preparing for take-off

For the past few weeks, as I have been making sure everything is safe for the night, it has become a habit for me to tilt my headlamp up towards the beams in the shed to see if my swallows are still with me.

It was only the young that were left and even they have been decreasing in number day by day. The other night, though, the beams were bare — the last two young swallows had gone. I expected it, of course, but it was still a little sad that they had left. I’ll see no more of them or their cousins, hawking after flies to and fro