As swallows gather on wires and the joyful trilling of greenfinches continues unabated, it really isa good time to count our blessings. This spring and summer, with the help of the excellentMerlin app, I’ve been counting birds. This has resulted in large spreadsheets indicating what’s been ‘heard’ by Merlin and seen/heardby me. I take our old dog for a slow walk or my daughter’s much sprightlier hound for a longerone. Either way, I’ve been spending more than an hour a day on

Travels with my App - up and down The Lane (Horsepool Road) - continue as the seasons turn. A too-mild start to the month soon gives way to spells of finger-numbing cold, mist, some hard rain, named storms and lots of Welsh sunshine, commonly known elsewhere as: drizzle. October starts with a final flourish of swallows and house martins. Gone too are the whitethroats and flycatchers. There are far fewer flies but the wasps persist. Fewer flowers too, barring some late-bloomin