The days are getting shorter and a little colder but at this moment we have not seen any very cold weather yet. I know many of us like it this way but hopefully we shall see some frosts to kill some of the more unpleasant members of the insect world . In September there was a flurry of farming activity with large tractors and trailers full of bales rushing through the village.

A day or two ago my wife commented about a herb she had growing in a pot in the kitchen for culinary purposes, "that looks a bit sick"! and it did, with green but drooping leaves. The pot, a standard garden type, looked quite attractive as it had little flecks of white all over it - then I noticed that they were all moving about. The specs were aphids and that was why the plant looked sick. I didn't consider how many baked aphids we had consumed over the last few days (at least they would be sterile). The plant was sent to its vegetable garden in the sky.

The deer have been back in the garden; we haven't seen them but have found their droppings, and similar evidence of a fox passing through the garden.

September this year was particularly hot, sunny and bright with many summer flowers still hanging on, consequently there have been many butterflies flittering around the garden; Red admiral, Commer, Wall and Speckled Wood to name but a few.

I saw a young Chiff Chaff, a member of the warbler family, chasing a Blue Tit through the Quince tree, just above my head, when I was sitting in the garden. The adult bird is easily mistaken for a Willow Warbler, but this young one had a yellow breast (the youngsters have brighter feathers) a small pointed beak and a short tail. They are Summer visitors and most head for Africa when the weather becomes cooler and there are fewer insects to be found.

Yesterday (10^th October) being a warm day the Ladybirds became very active, flying about and then alighting onto the walls and windows of the house. These were all shapes, colours and sizes. Soon they will be looking for a place to hibernate a dry warm sheltered crevice where they will huddle together in large numbers.

MOLES
A Mole or maybe more than one is having a wonderful time making little hills in our garden. This is a problem we have rarely encountered and never have we had so many of these unsightly hillocks.  For this reason the Mole is probably one of the most persecuted animals in Britain.  Our garden this year has had scant attention as we have been preoccupied with our house extension and so the Mole has had little disturbance, or maybe as we has so little rain in September he has had to come above ground to feed.  The main diet is of worms and he has to consume over half of his bodyweight every day to survive. They are rarely seen as they come above ground mainly at night.  Few carnivorous creature will eat them as the flesh is unpalatable but many are taken by Tawny and Barn Owls.

WORMS
Worms are very important to a garden (apart from encouraging the moles) as they aerate the soil, eat decaying matter and drag leaves underground. In the compost heap, the branling is the species most commonly found.  It converts organic matter into rich compost to be dug in the garden later in the year.  Burrowing and casting up the earth they have swallowed they are constantly engaged in ploughing and enriching our soil. With out them our land would be in a poor state. Luckily there are about fifty thousand to the acre in Britain ( so I have read I haven't counted them personably).