House Martins!

I had to rush in again (half way through the shallots) to tell the world (no one but me reads this blog, but it's now my diary for my old age) that, as I went out the back door, up in the blue and pink mackerel sky there were about 200 House Martins wheeling frantically high up above my garden, joining the rooks in their evening squall. I haven't seen one for about a week and I have never seen them doing this before. Normally they'd be in rows on the lines before they go.

And I was the one who thought there was only one odd swallow left.

When I came in they were gone. Are they gone, gone, gone???

Oh!!. . . and, in the near dark, now here come the seagulls, wheeling in in waves from the south east, high, high in the sky.

And now, here is the darling nearly-round moon, my friend, coming up over the hill.

Full moon is on Wednesday and that could be some pagan festival for me if I was at all inclined that way. The BBC says:

The equinox on 23rd September heralds the start of autumn in the northern hemisphere. Equinox means 'equal night' and represents the moment when neither of the Earth's poles have any tilt towards or away from the Sun. From now on, the North Pole begins to tilt away slowly from the Sun, the maximum angle of 23.5 degrees being achieved on 22nd December – the winter solstice.The equinox on 23rd September heralds the start of autumn in the northern hemisphere. Equinox means 'equal night' and represents the moment when neither of the Earth's poles have any tilt towards or away from the Sun. From now on, the North Pole begins to tilt away slowly from the Sun, the maximum angle of 23.5 degrees being achieved on 22nd December – the winter solstice.