Swallows, sand martins and cowslips

It was great to see a mixed flock of over a hundred swallows and sand martins today feeding and drinking at Standlake Common Nature Reserve. It was quite strange; as I watched their acrobatics with such delight I still had excellent sightings of a couple of goldeneye and some pintails that are still hanging around. They should have moved off to their breeding grounds some time ago. Still no sign of redshank and no lapwings here at all I think they are all over on Otmoor. Those of us who help out with the RSPB breeding wader survey are supposed to start on the 15th but there is no sign of much breeding activity of any species round here just yet. Antony saw his first chiffchaff along the lane so it is only a matter of time.
On the Langley's Lane SSSI the cowslips are just poking through and it looks as if there are going to be good numbers despite the months of flooding. Or maybe because of the months of flooding?