Little Sprouts Weekend: Week 2
There are some signs of the changing season that are easy to spot.
Blackberries darken in the hedgerows. Leaves begin to lose their fresh summer green. Evenings close in a little earlier each day.
But this weekend, I want you to look somewhere different.
Look up.
High above the gardens, fields and rooftops, you might catch sight of one of our most familiar summer visitors: the swallow.
The birds of summer
Swallows spend the warmer months here in Ireland.
You can recognise them by their dark blue backs, pale bellies, reddish faces and perhaps most easily when they're flying, their beautiful long, forked tails.
They rarely seem to sit still for long. Instead, they swoop and turn through the air, catching tiny flying insects as they go.
By late summer, we are moving towards the time when swallows will begin their extraordinary journey south. Most leave Ireland around the end of September, travelling towards Africa in search of the insects they need to survive through winter.
For now, though, they're still here. And that gives us a reason to look up before they're gone.
An old Irish way of watching the weather
Long before weather apps and hourly forecasts, people paid close attention to what was happening around them.
Birds, animals, clouds, plants and even the behaviour of smoke from the chimney could all become clues.
And swallows appear again and again in Ireland's old weather lore.
One belief recorded in the National Folklore Collection was simple:
When swallows flew low, rain was thought to be coming. When they flew high, fine weather was expected.
There's a reason the old saying works, too. Swallows feed on insects in the air, so where the insects are flying influences where the swallows hunt.
It doesn't mean your swallow can replace the weather forecast. But it does give us a wonderful excuse to do what generations before us did: go outside and watch.
This weekend
Sometime this weekend, find a place where you can see plenty of sky.
You don't need to travel anywhere special. Try your garden, a green, a park, a country lane or simply somewhere outside your home.
Then spend five minutes looking up.
Can you spot a swallow? If you do, watch it for a little while.
See if you can notice:
- Is it flying high in the sky or swooping low?
- Can you see its forked tail?
- Is there one bird or a whole group?
- Does it fly in a straight line, or twist and turn?
- Can you hear it?
- Are there lots of tiny insects flying nearby?
It doesn't matter if you're not certain whether it's a swallow. The noticing is the thing.
One thing to notice before Sunday ends
Before the weekend is over, look up one more time.
Are the swallows flying high or low?
Then have a guess at tomorrow's weather using the old Irish belief.
Low: Perhaps rain is on its way.
High: Perhaps fine weather.
Check afterwards and see whether the old weather lore got it right.
A season can change above our heads
We often look for autumn on the ground.
The first fallen leaf. A ripe blackberry. A conker.
But the changing year is happening in the sky too.
Over the weeks ahead, many of the swallows we have watched all summer will disappear from Irish skies and begin a journey of thousands of kilometres.
So this weekend, don't rush to make anything. Don't gather supplies. Don't turn it into another job.
Just step outside together for five minutes and look up.
Because sometimes noticing the season is enough.
Little Sprouts Weekend
One story. One little mission. One thing to notice before Sunday ends.
If you'd like a Little Sprouts Weekend adventure like this sent to you each week, join Little Sprouts Weekend for free and make a little more of the season you're in.
