With the UK lockdown still in force over this Bank Holiday (i.e. National Holiday) long-weekend, there have been concerns people will be tempted to flout the requirements and come to beauty spots and beaches to enjoy themselves despite the constraints. And so last weekend and this, police have closed the road through Cheddar Gorge to all traffic, save local walkers and cyclists.

And so when I went out for a short cycle ride as part of my daily (allowed) exercise, I thought to cycle up the gorge. Now it is all uphill and steep in parts. I am no super-fit person, and certainly not a MAMIL (middle-aged man in Lycra). I did it slowly and used the cunning excuse of stopping to take a photo as I went (and catch my breath). And the reason I wanted to take some photos is that I have never seen the gorge this quiet on a sunny spring day. No cars, and no people (save the odd cyclist passing by). Just very loud birdsong, some very content wild goats and stunning views. So I thought to put them here for everyone to see.

It can be easy to forget just how lucky we are to be just a minute or two, literally from some spectacular and beautiful scenery.

Take care and stay safe.

A little story not mentioning the "C" word.

Our garden seems to have a very full and noisy cohort of birds of all kinds - and we love them: robins, blackbirds, magpies, squabbling sparrows, long-tail sparrows, wagtails, a woodpecker or two, starlings (getting rarer), rooks, finches, tits, tiny wrens, fat wood pigeons, collared doves, the odd visiting sparrowhawk from the gorge.

But some of our favourites are only here in summer and Mary gets really excited when she hears or see the first swifts arrive for their summer residency. I say "residency" but from what we understand swifts do not normally land but fly constantly, 24/7, grabbing micro sleeps whilst short gliding, eating and even mating on the wing. Some have been known to fly for 10 months without landing. Wow. They come up from Africa where they over-winter; these small beautiful birds battling the winds, crossing the Sahara, the Mediterranean sea and then up usually via Spain and France. They can travel 800km in a day and at speeds of up to 100+kph, and maybe cover 200,000km in a year. Once here the mature birds are here to mate, and they do then land to build nests and lay, incubate and hatch their young. The classic nest would have been high on vertical cliffs (and so Cheddar Gorge). But they have adapted to nest under the eaves of houses, and our next door neighbour's house seems has nests every year (apparently they mate for years and return to the same nest).

But never so far in our house. We're not sure why. And so we have taken the initiative to install a couple of swift boxes, suitable high up and now we wait. The swift specialists (lots online) recommend playing swift calls to help attract them and make them take notice. And so, Huw and put little speakers under the new boxes fed from a little timer-switched digital box that plays swift song mornings and evenings through late spring and early summer. And now we wait to see if these holiday homes will eventually get used.

We're not expectant. When we first moved here we put up bird boxes throughout the garden, and some bat boxes. One bat box on the cottage did eventually get used, but all the others remain empty. We guess the natural habitat is rich enough. Who wants new-build when you can have traditional?

But whatever, we're happy to be doing a little to support these wonderfully entertaining birds. In summer as we sit out of an evening they swoop fast and low over us, and squeak and zoom low around the house and garden. In pairs or small groups, but also higher up in big clusters of many tens of birds. I know it is rather anthropomorphic, but they do seem to have fun and exuberance.

The first have now arrived in 2020, but the many are still to come. Definitely something to look forward to and to lift spirits in these unusual and concerning times.

We hope everyone is staying safe and well.