Here's the monthly observations around our village of Henbury' s naturalist and dogwalker.
Read ,enjoy and pop out to see it for yourself too ! But please don't leave litter behind.
October 2024
A seamless transition weatherwise from September – rain!
Dot the Dog and I watched a pair of swifts plundering the insects in the field behind the primary school – but I hoped they hadn't been left behind as others migrated.
At home, great excitement. A garden warbler had been spotted by S a few days previously and on the first morning of the month I saw it too, picking insects off the fennel plants outside the kitchen window. We had been going to cut them back, but I now had a perfect excuse for postponement... A siskin and long-tailed tits came to feed, and nuthatches from different directions.
For once recently, a sunny morning. S sat outside with her morning tea and watched an irridescent red and blue dragonfly resting and sunning itself on the patio flags. On the tomato plants a ladybird larva warmed itself in the sunshine – getting ready to overwinter.
The next (sunny again!) afternoon DtD and I once more watched swifts – this time around a dozen of them. Presumably they had not missed the boat but were gathering and feeding up ready to go. Dot the Dog was not happy that her walk was interrupted by my frequent stops to watch the aerobatics!
We saw more ladybirds and their brightly-coloured larvae hunting for places to hibernate. The lid of the green garden waste wheelie-bin seemed a popular hunting ground but we thought it a bit of a gamble on their part so ushered them off to more probably safe destinations.
The bird table became a magnet for masses of starlings – we thought between ten and twenty but it was difficult to tell because they came in groups and relays. A neighbour had recently had a colony evicted from their loft – where they had relocated to unknown.
A week into the month and S spotted a juvenile wren flying rather inexpertly into the hedge. No doubt it would soon get its pilot's licence. Over the fields Dot the Dog and I again saw a group of swifts feeding over the small field-flood behind Henbury Rise – this time accompanied by a few swallows but it seemed a bit late for the migratory set-off. The weather had turned rather cold and dank, so perhaps the hint would soon be taken. Yet again, DtD was very critical of my standing and staring.
A few days later a dank, damp morning. Nonetheless a buzzard seemed to have found a thermal upcurrent above the maize field and soared above Dot the Dog and me with its characteristic mewing call.
The first frost of the autumn came. S spotted fieldfares guzzling the red berries on the whitebeam in the grass verge in front of our house as light came up – they always appear with the first cold snap. When DtD and I arrived home after our morning walk an hour or so later there were coal tits picking up the left-overs. A dozen or more starlings raided the bird table and goldfinches galore hit the feeders, together with nuthatches, bullfinches and the woodpecker. A juvenile robin came to explore – not quite yet in adult plumage with greyish feathers mingled with the red on its breast – must have been the product of a late brood.
WARNING – RANT COMING! Dot the Dog and I have been appalled at the litter that has appeared recently over the fields where she takes me for my walks (no good talking about dog-owners – it's the other way round, at least if you live with an intelligent collie!). There are empty crisp packets, paper tissues, chocolate wrappers, and even discarded "vapes" – and worse. We watched a dog (unfamiliar to us) chewing an empty crisp bag while its "owner" had her mobile phone glued to her ear, back to the action; DtD danced her haka and I did a sotto voce growl!
There still seemed to be a remarkable number of juvenile birds about in the garden in the second half of the month. Presumably despite the poor summer weather the adults must have raised a second (and possibly a third) brood. The duty starling continued to alert its mates as soon as I put suet pellets or other goodies on the bird table; there must be twenty at least. A siskin again came to the feeders and took turns with the goldfinches and nuthatch – not so many dunnocks or house sparrows so far. The woodpecker appeared frequently and although we rarely see the thrush it had obviously dined on a snail in our open porch.
One surprise – in a container where I had grown dwarf sunflowers (a variety called "Brown-eyed Girl" if anyone is interested – highly recommended!) a shaggy inkcap toadstool popped up. They are said to be edible but we were too wary to try! A good excuse not to be too quick to empty containers however... Some years ago there were puff balls under the hedge on the way to the cottages, and Ray, who used to have the Cock Inn (sadly seemingly out of action again), gathered field mushrooms in the adjacent field.
A sunny afternoon walk with DtD – a damsel fly sunned itself on a fence post and as we walked home in gathering gloom the mist was visibly rising over the fields in the last of the sunshine, wisps rising and falling and settling low over the ground.
Bizarre! A clump of cowslips appeared under one of the rowan trees in the grass verge on Hightree Drive and came into flower; I was so surprised that I used my phone app (Picture This) to confirm their identity. Within a few feet were autumn toadstools (I think genus mycena but I am no expert – back to Collins Gem Guide to Mushrooms and Toadstools (pub. 1982!). The seasons as we once knew them seemed to be getting jumbled.
Hallow'een came. Lots of children were "trick or treating" – how nice to have new young faces in the village. I don't suppose they would do nasty tricks anyway because it seemed that a Hallow'een decoration outside the house indicated that they would be welcome. We gave them two options – a basket of sweets (unhealthy choice) and a basket of apples and pears (healthy choice). Surprisingly the healthy option was hugely popular (I suspected some parental influence).
And thus the month ended.
As ever
Horrid of Henbury