Tuesday 18 September 2012

Forever Autumn.........


Well the calender says Autumn is finally here...........but yesterday was one of those wonderful days when the sky is cornflower blue, there's a slight breeze, just enough to cool things down and so beautiful I almost don't know where to start!




The river was exactly at high tide on my fifth dog walk of the day and very high, in fact probably the highest I've seen for a few months now.  The swans were almost level with the top of the bank and I could barely see the plants that had been on dry land only a couple of hours previously.


A flock of gulls were dive bombing a kestrel that was flying high on the thermals to escape and even though I watched for some time, I couldn't see it's prey.  Obviously it was too near the gulls for their liking and eventually they tired of the game and turned as one, an arc of silver,turning this way and that, until they eventually disappeared, leaving it to drift aimlessly higher, swooping at the last, only to miss and begin the cycle over again.






There were dragonflies aplenty this summer too, mostly blue and they filled the air in various places, a small fetch or flight of them, busily darting here and there, sometimes almost too fast to see, just a vivid flash of azure blue out of the corner of my eye.



Of course no September day would be complete without spiders webs, they're so delicate and yet so strong,  and always where we least expect them to be (usually when we've walked into one, head first)!




Blackberries, sloes and rosehips are plentiful this year, in fact the sloes and even damsons in some areas are just falling onto the ground to lay forgotten by most but the birds and insects who are taking full advantage of the feast.

It looks to be a bountiful harvest, plenty for the birds and small mammals to eat and store in preparation for the winter to come.