Earlier this week I had to be out and about earlier than usual, visiting a house and garden. I found the early sunshine tricky driving east, as it was in my eyes. In addition, after a few months of not needing to, I had to remember how to demist the windscreen of the car. It was all a bit different, but once I got to my destination, something made it all so very worthwhile! The large yukka in the garden was in full bloom and catching a beam of morning sun - what a beautiful sight!
The warmth and the sunshine were lovely, but other things are harbingers of winter and the days are certainly getting shorter. This morning we were at the One Acre Wood to see if there were any more mushrooms - spoiler alert, no there weren't! What was amazing were the quantity of holly berries - there were trees we have never seen with a single berry covered with them. I don't know if it means a harsh winter or that this year was good for fruit (and it certainly has been a good year for fruit), but it is very jolly.
It is a sign that Christmas is approaching and indeed the Christmas puddings are made and wrapped in greaseproof paper and foil, and tucked away in a box "maturing".
As well as the trail camera (more on that in a bit), I have succumbed to a mobile app for identifying bird song - the Cornell Lab one, I am sure others are available! It is fascinating as it will identify up to about 300 birds found in northern Europe based on their song. You set it to record, and as it goes, it matches song to bird, so you can follow along in real time to see who is having a chunter out there. It is mildly addictive and I am sure pretty accurate, although I very much doubt we have a green sandpiper at The Orchard. It does also show that I am shouted at by Robins pretty well continuously, and wherever I am too! It also managed to identify this wee flock of long tailed tits that were doing the rounds in the gardens by us.
The tree is dead by the way and not in our garden.
So yes, the trail camera - I went to check it yesterday and the batteries were low, so it came home for battery recharge and so I could download and check the files. I can triage a bit when it is in situ using bluetooth and an app, but the images on my phone are very small and indistinct. I had thought that the night of the 30th September, there had been wind and I had loads of photos of waving grass, but no, the boar were in. (And goodie - the software links are working again!)
Actually things seemed to enjoy charging through as some young deer did a similar thing.
The badgers are also still out and about, but don't charge around like the boar and the deer - much more laid back.
So there we have it - a week in the weird season. Today I dug up the last of the potatoes, eyed up a parsnip, but didn't give in to temptation and picked a courgette. To find a nice one of those at this time in October is just madness! Have a good week!
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