It promised to be a damp sort of day but knowing these people of old I knew we would have a good number in spite of the looming rain clouds.

In truth if we were looking for that one moment of wild to highlight our visit we could have wrapped up this day, instead of ourselves. As soon as we arrived for there to greet us was a sky busy with at least 45 house martin all taking insects round and about a stand of trees, they couldn’t care less about our presence as they zoomed low over our gathering.

This number of these birds in this day and age, on our moss, is quite an impressive count. Job done wild recorded home to the dry. Well not quite, there was a wander across a beautiful landscape awaiting us. We walked.

A pair of curlew blew a fanfare of welcome as they flew overhead uttering their haunting call of the wild, whist a yellowhammer swept up onto a telephone wire and regardless of the weather sang its far from cheesy song. Remember “A little bit of bread and no cheese” from Day 3? My grandchildren haven’t forgotten.

We faced the rain...we found the puddles and long grass dripping with fallen rain. We gained yellow wagtail, parachuting meadow pipit and ether hugging skylark - a day well spent.

Then on our return a pause, regardless of the rain, to almost hear the wing-beats of a group of swallow. We had a front row seat of the wild as they weaved through the air. We gasped in breathless admiration for these magicians of airborne manoeuvres. Needless to say my camera skills to capture the moment did not quite match up.