Suddenly towards sunset the swallows arrived

SIR – When we read Geoffrey Nute and Jim Montgomery’s letters (May 16) we were full of sympathy, as our swallows were also missing.

However, at 7.45 that evening, we saw the familiar flash of the swallows arriving. We can now settle down to enjoy their sky acrobatics and watch the hatchlings learn to fly.

Jill Pye

Fylde, Lancashire

SIR – Sunday was a glorious day here in west Cornwall and the aeronautical displays of dozens of swallows stopped us on our walk in the hamlet of Brane. We were also treated to a musical performance by a lone cuckoo, which followed our tracks from Bartinney Downs to the village of Sancreed.

Years ago a friend’s husband so loved the swallows returning to nest in their eaves that he made them a Welcome home sign. That year they failed to materialise.

Perhaps, like the weather, swallows are capricious and unpredictable.

Maureen Sleeman

Penzance, Cornwall

SIR – At our local heritage railway, swallows used to build a nest above the light in the station house porch.

Last year, however, they were thwarted by the railway’s resident robin, who got in first. He did the same this year, pushing the summer visitors to their secondary residence inside the water tower. It seems the early bird gets not only the worm.

Susan M Walton

Gateshead

SIR – Swallows returned here, as usual, on April 13. I worry about the steady reduction in suitable nest sites though.

Farm buildings all around this area are being sold off and turned into dwellings. For every barn converted, swallows are excluded.

Carole Gardner

Brassey Green, Cheshire