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We
saw high flying birds in the sky circling around and they
turned out to be House Martins, young birds still gathering
food and strength for the flight south.
We have been lucky this year not having any frosts yet. In
my experience a frost comes early in September and kills all
the "soft" plants like the runner beans. We then get at least
two weeks of warm weather.
Although autumn is upon us the very mild weather has given
us an abundance of garden and wild flowers still in bloom.
The recent rain has put a new bloom into everything and the
grass on our lawn is green again after the summer's drought.
The berries are looking their best and the garden is remarkably
colourful.
The Red Admiral butterfly has been frequently seen this month.
These butterflies are probably the result of the mating of
the migrants that came over from the Continent in the spring.
They are beautiful with red, black and white markings, and
dark underneath the wings. They love to feed on Buddleia,
ice plants and Michaelmas daisies still in flower in our garden.
I got within a few feet, while watching one butterfly probing
with its long proboscis to suck up the nectar from a
yellow Buddleia flower. They can also be found feeding on
windfall apples.
We seem to have lots of Tree Wasps around at the moment. These
are much larger than the Common Wasp and have occasionally
been found indoors. They seem to be less aggressive that the
Common Wasp and are more often seen in Southern England.
The Cock Pheasant, which has been very quiet during the summer
months has been heard again with his loud territorial call
and much flapping of wings. He will get increasing louder
as the autumn and winter seasons progress.
Some say that things start to slow down in the Autumn but
that is difficult to understand when we are in the middle
of pruning and hedge cutting or mowing the lawn. Never mind,
only ten weeks before Christmas.
Diana and Richard Terry.
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