Kilpeck, a tiny village (barely a hamlet, really) in the depths of rural Herefordshire, has a church, also tiny, with magnificent medieval stone carvings as corbels just under the roof. Alongside them a couple of weeks ago house martins were still nesting. The adults were busy catching insects, and bringing them back to feed chicks which looked almost full grown. By now they may have already begun their first long journey to southern Africa, to catch trhe summer there.