Every year during the summer months of July and August, we are led to believe that this will be the best harvest ever of blackberries. We are often disappointed and many a glorious display of unripe red berries never come to fruition. This September, however, we have had hedgerows dripping with juicy fat blackberries and never enough time to pick them all. Even after our fridges, freezers and jam pots were full of produce, the bushes were still heavy with fruit. The birds will have plenty to eat this autumn.
September came laden with gifts this year. Hot, sunny days, warm nights and beautiful sunsets. (For those of you who like a statistic; the 3rdwarmest September since 1884 – courtesy of the MET office). Plenty of sea swimming and outdoor fires late into the evenings with barely a breeze at our backs. The small amount of rain we had was often accompanied by fleeting rainbows. The squash grew large, the apples fell by the dozen and a fox was spotted feasting on the blackberries. On several misty mornings the heron was seen rising above the trees down by the riverbank. A silent, graceful sight. They must like it around here – not far from us, along the Helford River, regular sightings of herons are reported in the local press, with photographs to prove the story. Gorse began to show the first splashes of its yellow flowers, rosehips were forming on the brambles, the owls became ever more vocal, and the jays were heard screaming away in the woods.
The jays have been busy this year with their oak tree plantation. The field has not been cut for two summers and we are seeing many more self-seeding saplings growing in the open ground, the oaks in particular have prospered, at least 12 oaks in the field, ranging from 4 to 18 inches. Generally, the elms and blackthorn saplings dominate the hedgerows around here but this year we have found hazel and chestnut saplings in amongst the brambles. I’m interested to see how many will survive. Oaks form a regular part of the hedges all around this area, which makes me feel quite optimistic about their chances of survival.
The spiders continue to make their presence felt in the field. By all accounts, there is a spike in the spider population this year. Autumn is the time when they are most visible to us as they are on the move to find a mate but this year their numbers have risen, attributed to the hot and dry summer that has just passed. Spiders use their webs to catch their food, thus, the location of their home is the key to their survival. The number of flying insects is in decline which means less food for spiders. This is bad news for all of us, we need to make friends with spiders. In a nutshell, spiders control the insect population in every ecosystem. They eat the bugs that eat our crops: aphids, caterpillars, mites, weevils and more. Their sticky webs catch disease carrying insects like the fleas, flies and cockroaches. And to keep their own population in check, they eat each other. It’s a win-win situation. We need to provide them with wildlife corridors to help their survival. In the lower part of our field, there has been a noticeable rise in the number of flying insects this year. Hopefully, this is the reason our field has been so full of spiders and their webs.
Looking back to September last year, my notes tell me that the top half of the field was completely dominated by the docks, both new and old growth. This year they are barely noticeable. The mass entangled form of the creeping thistle is the main feature in the open field. Flying insects, butterflies and crickets still adorn their remains. Red berries from the blackthorn bushes are draped around the edge of the field, montbretia and calendula provide the orange, with flashes of blue from the borage. There is always a hint of nostalgia about September, a time of change and goodbyes, alongside memories from the fading summer. Nature is on the move, readying itself for the winter ahead, just as we must do. ‘Autumn days come quickly, like the running of a hound on the moor’ a little reminder to us from an old Irish proverb, that we need to get on with the job and not tarry.
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