One swallow doesn't make a spring ....

Barn Swallow (Hirundo rustica)
Folklore teaches us that one swallow doesn't make a spring ... so will two qualify?

I popped out to see if I could find the elusive Hoopoes, I saw one looking very cold on the grass as I was leaving the lake, I took a photo, but through the windscreen of my car that came out a bit hazy, so the hoopoe blip will be for another day.

I then went to another lake, just down the road.
I was watching huge flocks of pied wagtails doing their ablutions in puddles of water - they were very comical and quite brave, as the wind was very cold.
I saw some grebe, herring gulls, egrets and mallards, then I saw something that I thought was a bit strange.
At first I thought it were the pied wagtails acting like swallows, flying close to the surface of the water then dropping down to scoop up some water... you know, just like swallows and martins do ...

Then I noticed that they also flew exactly like swallows and had the tell-tale forked tail of swallows .. in fact it was swallows.

I couldn't believe it at first, it seemed way too cold for swallows, but lo and behold, it was, indeed, swallows, hundreds of them.

I managed this shot, which I am not overly happy with, but they are the first swallows of the spring, and usually the weather gets warmer when they arrive - they know more than Météo France in terms of forecasting the weather.

So there you have it - the swallows have arrived.

The French word for Swallow is Hirondelle, which can also be used, as a slang word for the police, because of their blue and white colors...