It feels like weeks since these eggs hatched, the only time I get to do a beak count in this crowded nest is when they are feeding, and there are still five.They are all still in the nursery and the parents are ragged with feeding duties. The young birds are at the stage where they are flexing their wings, they take it in turns to hang out on to the edge of the nest, imagine being in the deep end of the swimming pool, your holding on to the edge and kicking your legs like mad? Well this is what they are doing only with their wings. I don’t know what that nest has been stuck up with but next time I’m in a gluing situation I’ll look for a passing swallow to lick and stick.
The sky is somewhat Hitchcock like at the moment with Swifts and Swallows and Martins; maybe this is why we don’t have any mosquitoes. It has got to be launch day soon for this brood, they have all their feathers and are just missing the two long tail points, are these the flight rudders, they could be essential? Despite this there are a lot of flight demonstrations (think Cinderella and the ballgown moment) going on from the parents and I have to be careful I don’t walk right into a slow motion fly past on the way to or from the workshop. 
