The fingers of Autumn

That feeling of the strength of the summer imperceptibly starting to wane comes stealthily every year through the back door of long late summer days. 

First it is the subtle arrival of an earlier sunset from Mid August. August is for me more a moment of changing seasons than a main fixture in the school holiday rota. For many and I count myself amongst them the first week in August is akin to the warmest and longest of summer days, yet, by its end August feels decidedly autumnal, cool evenings, a creeping damp air and much shorter days. I've just looked up some facts to near where I live. On the 1st of August there was 15 hours and 19 minutes of day length, and of course much longer twilight. The sun rose at 05.37 and set at 20.57. As someone who spends time outdoors I can remember only a few weeks ago looking at the sun setting over Wales at 9pm. By the end of the month, there will be just 13 hours and 33 minutes of day length, close to a 2 hour difference. By then the sun will set before 8pm and not rise until 6.30am. 

Why am I saying this? Well today was the first morning I have risen and it was dark enough to need a light. Admittedly it was a cloudy start to the day, but not until near 6am did it feel as though the day had begun. I know this as I was sat in the garden. Unable to get back to sleep, I made myself a cup of tea and headed onto the patio. Time, 5.30. All was still without. Overnight we had had heavy rain and through the gloom jewels of rain were across many of the leaves and flowers hard by. There was a glorious earthy aroma around me, mixed with wood smoke, from where I know not. Most noticeably however was the absolute lack of wind. It has been like this for a couple of days. Nothing stirred either, it was as if all sound had been switched off by some unseen hand. 

Not long however the call of a wren erupted from the undergrowth closely followed by a robin. The robin I'm used to who has been calling his territorial scone for about a week now, a song that will continue into mid-winter. The difference in August however is that just a few minutes later the soft chittering of house martins was overhead and mixed beautifully with the robin song. At first I could not see where this was coming from, but then high high up in the sky a half dozen dark spots zig zagged around the sky in crazy circles. The day was waking. 

The time around dawn is possibly the best time to be outdoors. From a near silent landscape, no matter the season, the landscapes offers subtle changes in sound and motion minute by minute as dawn breaks. Today was no exception as by 6.30 I'd been privileged to be under the flightpath of around 100 jak-a-jack jackdaws off to forage somewhere to the south, herring gulls coming inland from their roost to the west, and alongside a few other species such as blue and great tit, the comic circus of house sparrows cascading out of the eves and creating both a deafening din and a cartwheeling mass of brown splodges across the garden. I love these birds which have chosen to live alongside us in the roof space. Regularly we have 50 by the feeders and today it was no exception. They were everywhere and as I have often observed the males were gently feeding juveniles, who with gaping mouth and shimmering wings were attended most dutifully by dad with a soft morsel of worm, bug or grain. 

I've been to many locations around Britain looking at wildlife but an hour or so in the garden matches many a trip to far flung areas. Despite the lack of sun drenched warmth there was still a feeling of summer joy listening to the martin’s overhead, but the autumn season was much in evidence, waiting in the wings. Aside from that scent of earth, the hedge behind the garden is now covered in red berries. Above my head a few gnats jostled for space but other than a single buff tailed bumblebee no other insects came into view. Turning a little too cold in the morning maybe and many will have finished their sexual phase thus larva are hidden from view awaiting their entrance in the years to come. I don’t mind autumn creeping through the back door, but as the day length shortens, I shall miss the long summer nights with screaming swifts around the house, those screams ended on July 23^rd this year. May the 4^th and they’ll be back.   

Sunrises over Somerset ....

I was up at 6am this morning and greeting me was this fabulous sight. I live under the London - Atlantic airway, as many planes use the Bristol Channel as a marker for trans-Atlantic flights. In the good old days concorde could be seen overhead followed sometimes by the distant boom as it hit the sound barrier over the sea.

Early every morning sees many vapour trails across the skies on this part of the Somerset coast as the early morning flights gain height. One day I counted 27 such trails high up in the sky at one time with 3 being made there and then.

But today the beauty of the vapour trails were highlighted beautifully in the gathering sunrise.

This morning's sunrise wasn't the only stunning one I've witnessed recently. A week or so back this unbelievable "red sky in morning" broke about 5.30am. And the rhyme was indeed correct that day. By 2pm it was raining a complete monsoon which lasted for 3 days here. I'm so glad I get up early to catch such natural spectacles - life is never dull when this sort of thing occurs.

Mists and Mellow Fruitfulness

I had today planned for weeks. A day at Malvern to visit the RHS Autumn Gardening Show. The RHS run a Spring show there too and I try if I can to do both as it's a wonderful event. But...having had a bit of a late night after my Chinese take-away dinner date was somewhat delayed on the M5 coming back from Stratford-upon-Avon where she'd bought a car, this morning I woke and well you know some days you have something planned but just don't want to do it. Today was that day, and from that change it turned out to be a very nice day indeed. As ever, please click on images to enlarge.

Down at Sand Bay first thing just for half an hour of fresh air really as the tide was miles out so any birding would be pointless. But while there the sun tried its level best to rise over the reeds.

And why have I photographed some not too exciting Hawthorn Berries next to where I parked my car? Well back on May 1st this year I wrote about Beltain on the Blog and photographed the "May Blossom". And so 5 months later those self same fresh wonderful flowers on the same branch have transformed themselves into ripe berries.

And then while photographing this Tree Mallow, purely because the leaf pattern intrigued me, I noticed a Common Froghopper on the leaf. The nymphs of this little chap are your Cuckoo Spit producers.

It was while admiring the flowering of a Sea Club-rush, I noticed a Little Egret take off from the Marsh. Sadly this photo is absolutely awful, even after being photo shopped, but at least it gives a record. Birds down at Sand Bay were just the usual suspects, however a nice flock of 50-60 Goldfinch jangling past was a very welcome distraction. The only other notable bird was a lone Swallow over the farm. This straggler is the first I've seen for weeks.

After Sand Bay a bit of a doing things morning developed. After dropping a friend off at a Country Club Gym, I upped the sophistication with a visit to the Tip, sorry Civic Amenity Site, with a mattress; shopping in Tesco Nailsea followed (not to be recommended on a Saturday morning) before I returned to the Country Club. Friend had finished her work-out and we had a very acceptable luncheon before I popped home to find this chap above in the sink. This is (I'm 99.9% certain) one of the lace web spiders, Amaurobious Ferox. The reason I'm not 100% certain is that although the "Skull and Crossbone" markings are diagnostic, the whole Amaurobious genus can show very variable markings. And the Long-Tailed Tits? Well just there because at about 5, a small flock appeared in the birch, twittered and flitted across the tree then left. I can never tire of watching these birds.

To round off what was a very nice day, as the sun set, I could feel the cold air dropping. Which can mean only one thing here, mist. So a quick sprint in the car around the lanes here produced a good number of scenic shots. As I've said before and will no doubt say again, this time of the year is wonderful.

Tree-hugging sun, or Sun resting on tree?

Gathering mist

Woodspring Priory across the North Somerset Levels as the mist gathers

Well that's a brief synopsis of how an unplanned day can delight, and entertain. Tomorrow may not be quite as wildlife stuffed as I'm off to have lunch in Swindon with 18 people I don't know. No idea what's happening but I'm sure I will enjoy it whatever happens.

No birds today but quite a nice sunrise

I missed this rather spectacular sunrise being 40 miles further north, but Thelma took this from the house in North Dorset this morning. Such a glorious day, the frost over the Somerset Levels, plus low sun highlighting the reeds it was stunning. As ever didn't have my camera to hand to record it and now stuck at work until it's dark :-(