I used to work on a luxury cruise liner and have travelled to 46 countries, and while I’ve seen some beautiful sights and visited some wonderful places to me there’s still no place like home.

I live in a quiet corner of Cumbria, well away from the tourist madness of the Lake District, and I know how lucky I am to be surrounded by an abundance of wildlife from rare Red Squirrels still roaming the nearby woods to wild Otter and the streaky blue of Kingfishers as they fly along the river.

I don’t have a garden as such, just a patio with some flower borders, but I feed the birds every day and can sit for hours watching the (mainly) Sparrows & Tits tooing and frooing, though I also have visits from Nuthatches, Finches and the occasional Woodpecker. I’m glossing over the visits I also have from the resident Sparrow Hawk and Rats the size of cats that jump 3 feet onto my bird feeders despite their deterrent baffles!

Despite my tiny, concrete outdoor space I’m still amazed at the wildlife I see on my doorstep and this summer was treated to a sight I’ve been trying, and failing, to capture for a decade. Swallows had nested in an old car port at the top of my shared driveway and I just happened to be outside one day as the babies were fledging. Luckily for me the chicks decided to perch near the nesting site on the roof of a nearby building, so I grabbed a pair of step ladders and my camera and hid in the shadows watching. I couldn’t believe my luck when I managed to capture the little ones being fed just 6 feet away!

It’s great to see exotic animals in far flung places, but we sometimes take for granted the wildlife we have on our own doorstep. I know Spring has arrived when the Sandmartins appear back on my local river and know that Autumn is upon us when the Swallows gather on electric wires outside my bedroom window, ready for their epic flight back to Africa.

Summer is almost over again for another year and, for the most part, it’s been dire. I look forward during the long, dark, rainy days of winter to the warm, light nights of summer but this year has been a washout and I’ve barely been out with my camera since June. Which makes a picture like this, taken just feet from my back door, so much more precious.