After so long an absence, almost a month, there’s so much to mention I don’t know where to begin. Actually that’s not true, being English I always begin with the weather, which has been gloriously hot. For the last fortnight we’ve had temperatures in the low thirties [degrees centigrade]. It’s been so hot that in an afternoon it’s been necessary to retire to the shade with copious amounts of cold drinks. The gelato machine has never done so much work but who can complain about such weather.

The swallows in the barn are now raising their second brood - four this time. They are constantly flying in and out. I counted forty visits in an hour. The babies are growing so quickly on their attentions I don’t suppose they’ll be nest bound for much longer.

The dry weather has also brought more visitors to Alledal. The roe deer are coming down to the Billabäck to drink; it’s about the only running water around after such a dry spell. They are very wary though and most views of them that I get are of them leaping away into the distance.

We’ve also had some new arrivals, the bantams I’ve been waiting for. Five nine week old Ölandsk Dvärghöna arrived last weekend. I can’t believe they are so tiny. The two cocks and three hens are going to form the basis of a new breeding group. These tiny birds need all the help they can get, there were only 212 registered birds in the last published census. They are a true bantam [i.e. there is no large breed equivalent] though there is a large fowl Ölandhöna which is sure to cause some confusion. It is most likely that the Ölandsk Dvärghöna has it’s origins in the trädgårdhöns [literally, Garden hens] that came to Sweden via England. These were often speckled or spotted with white and are the ancestors of amongst others the Mille Fleur. They are definitely not native to Sweden. Before the eighteen hundreds there was no mention of dvärghöns [literally dwarf hen] as being a small breed of hen. Any use of the word prior to this period was used to refer to guinea fowl. The breed comes from the villages of Petgärde and Asklund on the Baltic island of Öland off the eastern coast of Sweden. Those from Asklund have traditionally been called ‘Spitehöns’, literally spotted hens. They are a small breed with cockerels weighing around one kilogram and hens around half that. The feathers are brown\wild coloured with white and black tips. They are single combed, though some rose combed birds do exist they are not considered so true to type and I and advised not use them for breeding. The same goes for any cockerel over one kilogram in weight.