Winter chill set to arrive as the cranes pass through the night sky

THE winter chill is just around the corner, how do I know, the cranes, or grues, passed overhead last night.

Their call came on the breeze from the north, I could hear two groups moving along the valley, straining to see them through the darkness.

A small group passed by, but I could still only hear them, then the noise of beating wings tumbled over the roof top.

And there a dark, swiftly moving v-shaped line of the birds flashed past against the murky black clouds above.

The swooshing whirl of their wings letting me spot them on their journey south, from the cold winds of northern Europe to the restful winter sun of southern Spain and Africa.

The video above is of the cranes heading south that I took a few year ago, capturing them during daylight, it really is a magical gift of nature.