Black and grey traditional swallow tattoo in flight on the back of a hand, with bold outlines and simple shading.

Swallow tattoo on the back of a hand

Traditional · Hand · Black and grey · Photo

A black and grey swallow in flight is tattooed on the back of a hand, with its wings swept upward and its forked tail trailing toward the wrist. The bold outlines and solid dark fills of the wings and body are typical of traditional flash work, with lighter grey shading giving the feathers some dimension. The bird sits centred on the hand against a soft-focus tiled floor, which keeps the attention on the tattoo.

Traditional Hand Swallow Bird Hand

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A story inspired by this tattoo · fiction

Dear Nell,

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The gulls have followed us past the Dogger since Tuesday, and Skipper reckons the shoal is close, which means we will not see the quay until the hold is full or the weather decides for us. I am writing on the back of a fish ticket because the paper ran out at the chandlers, and I did not want another week to pass without telling you what came aboard on Thursday.

It was a swallow. A small thing, blue-black on the back and rust at the throat, sitting on the coiled warp by the winch as though it had paid for the passage. Old Tam says a swallow that comes out to sea is either lost or carrying word home, and he would not say which. It let me get within a yard of it. Then the wind backed round to the south-west and it went up over the wheelhouse and away towards the land, straight as a thrown line.

Tam has scratched a tally on the bulkhead for every day since, four so far. He says if the bird was right, we will be in before the new moon, and if it was wrong, we will at least have had good company for the crossing. I hope it was right. I hope it was carrying something sensible, like a ring of bread or a promise that the kettle is on.

Keep the lamp lit on the landward window. Look for a dark wing low over the breakwater at dusk, and know the boats are coming in behind it. Yours on the water, Davie.