With June having just ‘pulled into the station’, we now have all the weather statistics for the driest spring since goodness knows when and the sunniest May since around then too – oh and the warmest start to the year since anything began. While these figures are interesting, what is more important is the fact that we need rain.

So until we do have a useful amount of the wet stuff, please make sure that there is always fresh water out for birds and other wildlife and keep watering pots, containers and vulnerable veg. Plants in containers will create quite a dense leafy canopy over the compost so will need watering at the base of the plants and if your compost has dried out and isn’t absorbing water well, then, if feasible, dunk the basket or pot in a big tub of water – a Gorilla tub is ideal – and submerge it until the bubbles stop. It feels a bit wrong holding your beloved plants under water until they stop ‘breathing’ but it is the best way to rehydrate the compost.

I think I have mentioned this before but did you know that although when we talk about ‘Flaming June’, we are referring to the traditional heat waves for this month, the phrase originally referred to the woman in the painting by Frederic Leighton, called ‘Flaming June’. The painting depicts a sleeping woman in a bright orange gown, and with flaming red hair, earning it the title. One of the interpretations of the painting suggests a connection between sleep and death, a celebration of beauty and sensuality, and a contemplation of the delicate balance between life and death. The oleander branch, known for its toxicity, in the top right of the painting, is supposed to be a symbol of this fragile balance. Despite being wonderfully thought provoking, somehow ‘we’ still managed to turn poor old ‘Flaming June’ into a description of typical midsummer weather.

I am often asked to explain the difference between a swift, a swallow and a house martin at this time of year as all of them grace our skies with their acrobatic displays. It took me ages to remember the differences, so maybe this’ll help.

Swifts have forked tails which are shorter than a swallow (‘swift’ is also shorter than ‘swallow’ letter-wise), and as they spend almost their entire lives in flight – eating, drinking, sleeping and even mating on the wing, you’ll never see them perched on overhead wires like Swallows. They stay ‘swift’. They have dark, streamline bodies and nests are hidden in cavities and under eaves of old buildings. Their call is very shrill - you can often hear them before you see them and they are referred to as ‘screaming parties’. There are the same number of letters in 'swifts' and 'scream'.

Swallows have longer forked tails (remember swallow is a longer word than swift). They have a red throat (think 'painful to swallow') and their tummies are pale but not the striking white of a house martin. They build visible cup-shaped nests made of mud under the eaves and you will often see them swooping over water to collect insects – and sitting on overhead wires.

House Martins are smaller than swifts and swallows, have shorter wings and shorter (forked) tails. They are also plumper in the body and have a white ‘undercarriage’ and rump. Whilst they also build their mud nests under the eaves of buildings, unlike the swallow’s open cup nest, house martins only leave a small opening at the top of their nest. They tend to prefer ‘neighbours’ too, and will often build their nests side by side.

I hope this doesn't get me into trouble but I think of the band, the House Martins - plump and white.