THERE are reports of a few swallows in Cornwall already. They must be mad, I’m sure their mates are lolling about in a French vineyard.

The cuckoos, on the other hand, have moved north a bit, through the tropics and are now on the southern edge of the Sahara. They will take advantage of seasonal rains to help feed up on invertebrates before tackling the flight over the Sahara and then on to Britain in just a few weeks.

Although the swallows might be eager to get cracking, the truth is they are vulnerable to cold snaps which decimate their preferred food of flying insects. Swallows will catch up to 1,000 flies, mosquitoes and beetles a day and will feed young up to 400 times a day.

That’s pretty easy in the summer when there are plenty of flying insects about, especially over water, but much harder if there’s a late snowfall.

Cold weather can have a very bad impact on swallow numbers, so I’m hoping we don’t have any prolonged cold weather.

The majority of the swallows are now well on their way from southern Africa and most will arrive in the UK in the next two or three weeks. They make the 6,000-mile journey across a few weeks, travelling at about 20 mph. It’s a remarkable feat and, for me, seeing the first swallow back home is a sure sign that the summer can’t be too far away.

However, the swallow’s achievements pale into insignificance when we consider the arctic tern, which migrates from Northern Europe to Antarctica each year, the zigzag course meaning birds can cover over 100,000 kilometres per year. As they can live up to 30 years, many of these birds can cover two-million kilometres in a lifetime. A remarkable achievement for a tiny bird.