Autumn is here

The seasons are turning once again and autumn is coming. I was out walking the other evening with the dogs and by 8.00 it was coming in dark – I always forget how quickly everything changes. But autumn does bring its benefits especially in the way of nature’s larder. The hedgerows are full of blackberries and my sister is providing us with plenty of apples from her garden – blackberry and apple pie with clotted cream for pud tonight – Derek will be pleased!

The berries on the mountain ash are stunning – vivid red that really stand out especially against a blue sky and this year there is an abundance of berries. There are also loads of hazelnuts ready for the picking. The ones that have already fallen onto the lanes and crushed are quickly scooped up by the chaffinches, sparrows and other small birds.

Looking out across the lawn, Derek noticed a small pile of soft grey feathers that once belonged to a dove that nested in the trees at the bottom of the garden. The culprit was a very swift and beautiful sparrow hawk who seems to have taken a liking to our garden as its hunting ground. We won’t be feeding the birds until he has found another venue!

Derek has been out exercising the horses over towards Allerford and has come back with news about the pair of merlins which have been nesting in a stone barn down at Blackford. They now seem to have moved and seem to be spending a lot of time in a couple of oak trees by the racecourse. The house martins have finished raising their second brood in the eaves at the front of the house but no signs yet that they or the swallows are grouping to migrate – sign of an Indian summer maybe?