The Outside World

On Friday we went to an insipid arts event at Croft Castle.  The work was all over the grounds and we walked past the castle to the fields.  The hay had been cut recently, and the swallows were skimming the stubble for insects, inches above the ground.  They were oblivious to the hordes of art people, and were quartering the large lawn in front of the buildings for more food.  And on the doorstep of the castle I heard tweeting and looked up to see a house martin's nest about four feet over my head, with a small martin peering out; the next minute the adult swept in and fed it and then was gone.  There was an irregular row of mud nests in the crevice of the doorframe.  Then on the way out of the estate we had to pull off the road for the tractor, beginning to bring the wrapped hay bales in from the fields.