Summer's End and Moore

 Sadly, the swifts seem to have departed already – at least from Lichfield, where they've had a good summer, thanks to the unusually seasonal weather. I keep scanning the skies, but I haven't seen one since the end of last week. Maybe if the sun had carried on shining they'd have hung around longer... For me, the departure of the swifts always feels like the end of summer – the real summer – and everything after has a tired, overblown fin de saison feel. There are reports from Derbyshire of butterflies and moths, filled up with all they need to get through the winter, settling down to hibernate – and it's still only July! 
  The 30th of July, to be precise, which is the birthday of the great accompanist Gerald Moore (born on this day in 1899).  His partnership with Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau was one of the wonders of the 20th-century musical world, and this morning Radio 3 marked the occasion with their electrifying rendition of Erlkönig. Here is some more soothing Schubert – Hans Hotter and Gerald Moore performing the meltingly beautiful Ständchen...