Which came first, the chicken or the egg? Today, the definitive answer was provided by Maeve, as clearly she came first-about 3 weeks ago-and her egg arrived today. She announced to the world she was going to lay it and then disappeared into the nest box, like a well brought up girl, reappearing some time later, pleased as punch.
In the nestbox, in a perfect little hollow she had made, was this perfect brown egg. There was general purpose excitement from us and congratulations from the Twittersphere for Maeve-she’s a very modern chicken.
And, as if that was not enough good news, when the driving rain stopped we went out for a short walk, to be greeted by returning swallows and sand martins, calling out their joy at journey’s end. It felt as if they carried the summer in on their wings.
