Horrid of Henbury and Dot the Dog charter summer winding down and autumn approaching in Henbury .
Occasional Notes from a Dog Walker
August 2024
August began with a huge thunderstorm. Dot the Dog and I set out for our morning walk in a beautifully fresh atmosphere when it had gone. Half an hour or so later we were sweltering in hot and humid air. Even so the butterflies (usual suspects) and bees were about in numbers. By the afternoon walk things had really warmed up. As we entered the track to the cottages from Andertons Lane a partridge ran before us (we'd have caught it if I could have run as fast as Dot who was as always on a lead) and it finally thought we had got too close and ducked under the fence and flew off. A little later we heard a buzzard mewing but it was so high I couldn't see it although DtD obviously could. Within moments a return call came from another some distance away. At dusk the bats flew – unusually low – just past the back door window and how fast!
The first weekend of the month came grey and fresh. S and I went for Sunday lunch at the Harrington Arms in Gawsworth and watched swallows and swifts criss-crossing the sky – they nest/roost in the old barn behind the pub. As always even the "small" portions of roast beef were gargantuan and Dot the Dog relished her doggybag. On our return home it was warm and bright and the bumblebees were all over the lavender bushes – mostly buff-tailed. An audible hum!
A warm day came again and we watched half a dozen swallows criss-crossing in the air above the remnants of the big flood and felt cheered. In days gone by later in the year I might have seen thirty or so perched on the telegraph cables on Anderton's Lane readying for migration; nowadays I expect none. Even so, the sight of damselflies hovering and darting about over the area where the smaller flood had been added another layer of cheer.
A further series of warm and sometimes hot days brought out more bees on the lavender and butterflies over the fields – speckled woods and gatekeepers mainly, but also large and small whites; not many tortoiseshells and no red admirals so far. The odd orange-tip flew over the garden and (I think) a brimstone though they usually fly earlier.
S and I went to check the Green before the mowing of the wildflower area in the next few weeks. We found more "incomers" – a few plants of corncockle, corn marigold, a weedy- looking cornflower, and self-heal. All annuals that shouldn't be there and probably brought in as seeds on the mower last year. The perennials were coming to an end.
At home after a hot, wet day on a fresher morning we had nine starlings on the bird table, woodpeckers on the nuts, and juvenile bullfinches, goldfinches and a greenfinch on the feeders. I think the young ones must be a second brood – I had seen several newly-hatched pigeons' eggshells on our travels recently under the trees where they "construct" their untidy nests. The feral pigeons reappeared – possibly some connection.
On another warm evening we sat outside and watched a heron fly lazily over, quite low, more or less in the direction of Redesmere – presumably having sought to plunder someone's garden pool of koi carp.
As we took our morning walks Dot the Dog and I noticed that the sunshine had changed to the rather brassy light of early autumn. A few holly berries were already reddening (seeming rather early) and the haws were coming on.
Storm Lilian came – and stormy winds stayed for a few days. A few trees locally came down or shed branches, mainly along the A537, but also the sycamore at the bottom of our garden whose debris narrowly missed destroying the garden shed; fortunately it landed on the compost heap and that absorbed the shock admirably and the main tree remains standing. The storm really felt like an autumn one rather than a summer one.
The field of maize had stood through the storm unscathed. A few mornings later with persisting gusty winds Dot the Dog and I were surprised to see that, having been standing the afternoon before, quite large sections of the crop were flattened, seemingly at random. Eddying currents of air to blame we thought.
Despite the dismal earlier weather the birds seemed to have prospered. At nearly the month's end our bird table hosted one day a group of adult and juvenile starlings numbering at least sixteen – they plundered the suet pellets and flew off before I could count them all. On our morning walks Dot the Dog and I had seen them flying over and taking up position ready to guzzle as soon as I put feed out – my first job on getting home while S gets Dtd's breakfast. A not-yet completely fledged robin came and the feeders were visited by the goldfinches, nuthatches, various tits, dunnocks and bullfinches – some adults and several obviously juvenile. Unusually so early in the year a family of long-tailed tits came to feed occasionally – they must have bred very locally. The nut-feeder hosted the woodpeckers. Very soon the feeders and table will be relatively unused as the birds head off into the wild to moult and gain their winter plumage.
A squirrel inspected the so-called "squirrel proof" feeders and ran off with a perch that it had detached; I emailed the maker to request a replacement! They now describe the feeder as "squirrel resistant"!
At the end of the month I woke one morning at about 1.30am (ask not why!) and heard a "twit twit" followed by an answering "oo-oo". The tawny owls were about.
Then the last day of the month. On our sunny afternoon walk we watched a heron taking its tea on the far side of the large flood (now rather dried up) alongside the Weaver Green development. It seemed to be feeding quite well – but we thought no fish in there so presumably frogs. The amphibians are on the move to winter quarters and we had seen them on Andertons Lane, either crossing over or as occasional flattened corpses...
As ever
Horrid of Henbury