Cyn's Nature Notes: Autumn Changes

Friday, 16 September 2011

Autumn Changes

It is September and everywhere is still relatively green, no doubt due to the amount of rain there has been.

The trees although green are no longer fresh looking but rather a tired yellow/brownish green. It has been a strange summer, cooler and wetter than we would have expected or than most of us would have liked, for me the greatest difference this summer has been the reduced number of butterflies in my garden. Interestingly, not as many wasps about either although bees and hornets have been plentiful.

The fruit this year has been overwhelming in its quantity and quality. Years ago, housewives would have been so busy: bottling fruit, making jam, collecting sloes and elderberries to make wine, blackberries and damsons from the hedgerows for jam. A glut of autumn produce not only kept them busy but also kept the family in tarts, fruit pies and tasty spreads for bread and butter or toast at tea time. The flavour of home produced jams etc., cannot be compared with its modern mass produced counterpart, which most of us collect from shops.

At one time most people kept chicken in their back garden; the eggs would be used in cooking and as a welcome treat for children's tea, for cake making for Sunday teatime and any left over would be laid down in a solution of isinglass to provide eggs for when hens went off the lay. Meanwhile the chickens which would have been loved, cuddled and named by the children were destined for the pot when they had outgrown their usefulness as egg providers.

Day-old chicks soon replaced the others to be stroked, cooed over and in their turn named and so the cycle went on. How very different our lives were then to the lives of children today.

Gone are most of the roadside flowers, the grasses have grown taller and we are still enjoying clumps of blue hardy geraniums. Taking the place of other flowers are drifts of Michaelmas daisies mostly a gentle calm, pale mauve colour with here and there white ones to be seen. Pretty scatterings of bright yellow Oxford ragwort seem to frequent most verges, I have mixed feelings about this escapee that is so eye catching, seeds so readily and yet is so dangerous to horses.

Joy of joys, I have just found my first conker of the year, it is as perfect as every other conker I have ever found: round, brown and shiny with it's own unique patterning made by various shades of brown on its shiny surface. A smile on my face, I clutch it to me, a symbol of the continuity of life. I admire it and show it to my elder granddaughter who also finds one and immediately points out to me that hers is better as it has a flat side and is much better for playing conkers with. Something I have never ever thought of!

I always think of September as a golden month; this year it truly is for Mike and I, as our Golden Wedding Anniversary falls this month. We shall be having a family reunion and a blessing and renewal of our vows all in aid of cancer research uk. Having cancer has made me more aware of many things and I have become a registered collector for cancer research uk,which has truly added another dimension to my life.

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About this Blog

When we moved to our present home in December 1987, I was very ill and bedridden. My garden was a life-saver, although it was very different then. The first thing I did was to put up bird-feeders, and long hours were spent lying indoors in a recliner. This was when I discovered many things. Do you know the underside of every blue tit’s tail is differently marked? Gradually, over the years, the garden changed. We put in shrubs and plants that would not only enhance the garden, but would also be good for wildlife. The first rabbit we saw was so joyful for us. The deer eat the flowers, prune the apple trees, eat the marrow, and are wonderful to watch. Foxes have been a major part of our wildlife. We have fed them each night for more than 20 years. They are such a delight, especially in late summer and early autumn when there are youngsters. They behave like puppies and are great fun to watch.

I love all wildlife: the mason bees that nest in the brickwork of the bungalow, the hornets that last year made their home in the roof above our bedroom, the bees currently nesting in the roof above the bathroom. On a hot evening, if you stand quietly in the bathroom, you can hear this amazing sound: it is very rhythmic and reminds me of the waves at the seaside. It is made by the beating of the bees’ wings as they fan their nest to keep the temperature at the right level -- how many people have heard that sound? I feel so privileged.

Obviously, I feed the birds. When I open the window in the morning I call “Come on Bobby and Blackie”, and one followed swiftly by the other they fly immediately to the bird table. Each morning, on rising, I make my way to the kitchen and find the squirrels already sitting on the window ledge waiting to be fed. Winter brings the moorhens and spring time the mallards. Our pond is a poor effort from a human point of view, but wild creatures see it differently. On summer days, the grass snakes spend long hours in the pond: eating the fish, froglets, toadlings, newts, and any other living creature they can swallow. Although I hate to see the pond emptied this way, I do enjoy the snakes and feel they are an important part of the balance of nature in the garden. Watching a dragonfly nymph climbing out of the pond, up a plant stalk, and then over the next few hours gradually transforming into a beautiful dragonfly -- these are contented hours well spent.

It has been my pleasure to write and publish a nature column each month. I am always delighted to hear how much pleasure this brings to my readers. I have often been asked if I have written a book, so I am making more of my writings and photography available through this web site and blog.