There is an autumnal feel to the air. Bird song is much less. In fact, the robin is often the only bird to be heard during the day. He sings a thin, lonely song far removed from the robust singing of spring.
Beautiful shiny brown conkers are waiting to be collected and admired indoors for a few weeks before being put outside for the squirrels to bury and feast upon. Delicious blackberries are waiting to be gathered from the hedgerows. More will be eaten instantly than ever get home. Stained fingers reach eagerly for the next one – why do the best ones always grow out of reach? I love the leaves of blackberry plants, at this time of year, with their beautiful colours. How often we find delicate flowers still blooming, and the cobwebs hung on the plants still bespeckled with dew. These are, for me, the real treasures of life, apart from family and friends, of course.
After our disappointment earlier this year, when we lost the broods of pheasant chicks, both due to natural phenomena, imagine our surprise a few days ago when one of the female pheasants turned up looking for food with yet another baby in tow. It’s only one chick, but we were still delighted. Was it the only one to hatch? Or had she already lost all the others? We don’t know, but we were pleased to welcome this tiny new chick to our garden and hope it will grow strong and live long.
The foxes have always been welcome and in past years we have often had two – always they have been comfortable in each other’s company, and have given us much pleasure. This year, however, for the past few weeks we have been entertained by three foxes. Two of them will feed together fairly easily with one being dominant and the other submissive; she crawls on her belly and moving quickly away if turned on. Now with a third fox involved the behavior has changed. There is a lot more aggression shown. Mostly they chase each other, or quickly turn and end up pinning another fox on the ground inflicting sharp nips. In spite of this, the foxes are high spirited and always return to feed. Just occasionally full fights will erupt. They start fighting on hind legs and then end up rolling around on the ground. From the squeals and screams it is clear they are hurting each other. These fights are clearly to establish dominance. The smaller, darker submissive fox never takes part in these conflicts and is very quick to run and hide in the bushes if turned upon – maybe this one is a female, but it appears that one of the aggressive dominant ones is also a female. Interestingly, while the foxes fight with each other, the hedgehog remains calmly eating his share of the food while all this takes place around him,
