The first swallow (or swift!) of summer?

To me there are always certain markers during the year that indicate the change of the season - the first frost, the first sight of snowdrops, the leaves starting to fall, the apple blossom, the vegetable and hazel harvest.  I usually equate swifts and swallows with the beginning of long summer days and clear blue skies and sunshine.  At the weekend, during a brief respite in the rain, we went for a walk on the South Downs, and walked through a host of darting swallows (or swifts, I always get confused), swooping over our heads and over the nearby field scooping up insects on the wing.  It was wonderful to see them and made me wonder if they were signs of a lovely summer to come.  I wish I could show you some pictures but they were far too quick and anyway, a static picture of a swallow shows nothing of its beauty. In spite of the dull cloudy weather or maybe because of it, the woods were resplendant with green.  I only took a few pictures:-

Wonderful green!

Common dog violet

One swallow does not make a spring, nor does one fine day

Aristotle