The first day of the month walking in Tremayne woods - a local walk close to us - Autumn had arrived overnight, a crisp morning with a cold blue sky and racing pink clouds. The wind blew hard, the leaves fell and littered the paths. At home the gutters filled up with the passing leaves. Another job to add to the list! The days that followed brought glorious sunsets and large red suns in the early morning, cold nights but warm sunny days. And then the rain came, stayed for two days, worthy of building an arc and just as quickly, it disappeared and the sun came back again. There is something so precious about an Autumn sun, the warmth is gentle and we feel the sense of its passing and we relish it all the more.
In the field the trees and grass still looked lush and green with glorious splashes of red from the Hips and Dogwoods and Rowan trees. The top half of the field has had the meadow seeds scattered across the cut and churned up soil. The White Owl put in a couple of appearances in the early evenings circling the top of the field for food, and birds are now perching and singing from the branches of the trees in the coppice we planted, in particular the Juniper. Still no berries have appeared.
Mid October brought another morning of frosts. I swam at Bosahan Cove on a beautiful bright sunny morning but the paths were slippery with frost, the sea was warmer than the outside temperature. And as I walked home I saw a pair of Shags perched on the rocks close to the land. Further down the coast at Kennack Sands the beach was littered with tiny jelly fish, thousands of them, mimicking pebbles, known locally as 'mauve stingers', the official name is 'Pelagia Noctiluca'. Nobody seems to know why these tiny jellyfish turned up, not just at Kennack but all over the Cornish coast. The Marine Conservation at Plymouth University said it was a combination of ocean currents, wind and drops in temperatures. I didn't swim amongst them but there were many that did and descibed it as a 'soup of jellfish' and apparently they pack a very nasty sting.
October 17th brought the temperature to 15 degrees, the washing line was in use throughout the day and many a bundle of laundry was dried. I found a colony of fungi growing up the side of the old Sweet chestnut tree, I identified it as Sulpher Tuft, apparently a very common fungus and found growing on old tree stumps - job done. The grand total of 11 mice has now been caught in my studio. The Owls were out and about all evening and night, hooting and shrieking - no honestly I love it. I blame it on the Hunters Moon, (the October full moon), which was large and beautiful with dark clouds and light crossing it, creating a setting fit for a dramatic theatre scene.
Towards the end of the month, I planted up 24 cuttings of Blackcurrants, harvested the last of the Artichokes, (which were delicious), and collected seeds from the Sweet Peas, Hollyhocks and Beans. In the woods the trees have all turned a warm orange, creating a glowing arc around each tree. The Thistles have all turned black in the field - is that the frosts? I don't recall it being so obvious in previous years. But colour remains along the edges of the field with the Bracken turning from green to dark yellow, to orange and onto burnt sienna. I know Bracken can be a destructive force in the UK landscape and I am keeping an eye on its spread but in the meantime it brings a glorious stripe of colour along the hedgerow. I'll take that for now.
Comments