Swallows and Cabbages

So I found the lead to my small camera. It was in the drawer where it should have been. BUT IT WASN'T THERE BEFORE. I tried all the leads from that drawer and none of them fitted.

We've only one swallow this year. We used to have a rake of them, but every year there seem to have been less. And now there's only one. I'm trying to be pragmatic about this. To not look at the single swallow on the wire and feel its loneliness. Because its a swallow, not a human, and to be honest if it flew down the valley a small way it would find plenty of company. The trouble is it makes me think of how it would be if this happened to all the birds because of what we humans do to our planet.

I'm hoping there will be hundreds of swallows on the lake. We're off to Winter Solstice this afternoon. But first I must check the brassicas. I planted them out yesterday. Will the slugs have eaten them all?