Autumn Cottage Diarist

As The Clocks Go Back...

The entrance to the road through the woods

...and we return to Greenwich Mean Time here in the UK, I invite you to take a few steps with me along the walk I took through the woods this afternoon. It's unseasonally warm here at the moment, though more seasonally wet. So in-between the showers, this was how I spent a very enjoyable couple of hours. (Correction - not strictly in-between the showers.,..but those that caught me out found me sheltering under the canopy of leaves that were still on the deciduous trees, and the thick cover of the conifers!)

Right - have you got some comfortable shoes on? Come on, then...follow me!

(click on any image to enlarge)

Still green, but the beech leaves are falling

Debris from conifer logging

Fungi, feather, leaf

Oakleaves in stages of decay

 

A stand of pines

Logged pines left to decay in planned management

Multicoloured beautiful beech tree

Returning to the earth - the circle of life

Cathedral of the trees

Sunlight after shower

On the way home - looking across the fields

A sumach glowing through the gate of a private garden

More glorious leaf colour

If I need to post a letter - hedgerow post box

The Great Oak

Home again!

Another Winter Walk at the Arboretum

Wolud you care to take another photo-walk with me around the Sir Harold Hillier Arboretum and gardens? We were only there three weeks ago, but already there are changes, and new things to see....

Some of the multitude of hellebores now flourishing in the gardens

Helleborus "Slate Blue" - and it was!

Tiny, species Narcissi

Balls woven from willow and ?, a metre or so across, hidden under the trees on the "Sculpture Walk"

Stunning white birch bark against a blue, blue sky - and one of many traceries only visible in winter

"The Bathing Girl" catching her death in the frozen pond!

The deliciously gnarled burrs on an aged tree trunk

The watercourse outside the Education Centre - the stones engraved with a multitude of plant names

Pebbles in the sunlit water

Pinus engelmanii - looking like a tropical offering in the winter chill

Walk in Beauty

A memory of blue for when the grey days come

"Walk in Beauty" - those were the words with which the poet Rose Flint closed the 11^th Lapidus Conference on Sunday, whose theme was "Footprints - the marks we carry and the marks we leave behind".

I can't begin to convey the atmosphere of the Lapidus Conferences - Creativity, intensity, passion, compassion, community - but I can show rather than tell that the emphasis this year was on "returning to the wild" in ourselves as well as into nature.

I need little encouragement, but this afternoon's "Medicine Walk" was done even more mindfully after listening to wonderful poetry and engaging with my own writing in the workshops.

Accompany me now, at the turning of the year, when the sun still carries warmth, the earth both absorbs and reflects it, and growth is abundant again after the (brief) summer hiatus. Walk in beauty with me through Penwood - and may some of your own inner peace be restored through the enjoyment of these images. (click on any image for a larger version)

Acorns in their cups

Late flowering Rhododendron Ponticum - a bee gathering nectar while it may...

Fungus 1 - can you identify it?

Blackberries

A lichen covered tree stump

Fungus 2?

Fungus 3?

The leafy pathway home

Collected Earth Medicine

Now why not take your own Medicine Walk today?

In and Out of the Garden

It looks as if summer might have finally decided to stay for a day or two – the weather has been dry and warmer today – though with a breeze that made walking a pleasure.

I have continued the major works in all sheds, garages and garden – but, hey, the sun was shining, so I combined my "downtime" with a walk in the woods. (Officially known as "exercise" when I’m feeling guilty). I never fail to feel immensely lucky that this spectacular woodland is literally across the road from me – complete with metalled road down through its middle, and sideshoot pathways all along it for intermittent wilder forays.

So take a little walk with me down through Great Pen Wood as it was this morning – I’ll meet you back in the garden later!

Here's some new growth on a rhododendron

Let's go off the beaten track

A moth sunning itself, beetles doing all SORTS of things in the sun!

The Secret Lake

I generally freak out over unexpected spiders - but I must admit to a sneaking admiration for the contruction of this hidey-hole - (click on all these images for a bigger view)

I think that's enough wildlife for one walk!

Right. I'm back.

A couple or three more hours work and the shed is nearly finished now. The garage would be half done as well if the STUPID "no bolt" shelving bought from Homebase yesterday had actually had even 1% chance of fitting together – as it was, it was returned to the store (after much bashing with mallets and squirting with WD 40 – and for goodness sakes, that works with EVERYTHING!!) – with an admonition to the Manager ready prepared, that if he could put it together, we would accept it.

No problem – it was accepted back without question. (I will look elsewhere for metal shelving – Haynes, the furniture warehouse just outside Wantage should be a good bet. Tried FreeCycle, but nobody giving any away today. More about the shelving search anon.).

Oh, enough of all this talk of clearing and cleaning – these are the beasts in my garden that have come out to play now that the sun has started to shine – much more interesting, don’t you agree?

Firstly, Queen Beast of all she surveys......Lissie, contemplating the possible pleasures of butterfly hunting.

Here is the object of her "affections" - a lowly Cabbage White, but our own....

Observation...

Exertion...

Exhaustion... (No, she didn't catch it!)

And finally for today, the real workers of the garden on an eryngium – aren’t they just beautiful? Now I know it's summer again.

An Amorous Evening Down at the Pond

Frantically searching for Lissie this evening, as it had got dark and
the cat flap had not been shut, I was drawn to the pond, where
occasional plops and a quiet croaking gave away the fact that amorous
activities were underway in the water.

This is what was going on - taken one-handedly with only a simple Fuji
digital camera and a failing torch, I was still able to capture the froggie "boys night out".

I counted at least nine frogs skimming about on the pond - here five are in evidence, white throated mug-shots caught on camera. A veil was drawn across the final herpetological embrace in the interests of privacy (and due to the fact that the torch gave out).

Lissie came in before I got the camera - with wet leaves stuck to her
tail and a wet underside. Now I think I know where she was...sat in the
same place where had been watching, down by the pond, just as fascinated
as I was - but probably trying, in addition, to figure out how she could
walk on water (well, only a week or so she was able to :-).

When Winter Comes, Can Spring be Far Behind?

It feels as if it has hardly got light for weeks here. The days are a succession of endless grey vistas (it’s official) - though the lengthening days are very noticeable. It’s at this time of the year that Winter feels gloomy and endless – so over the weekend, I took a stroll around the garden to see just what was happening there. Such a heartening sight – nothing stays still in nature, all around me there were signs that Spring is murmuring just below ground and getting ready to burst out anew in a month or two.

Here are some of the signs of springtime that I discovered two days ago...

Shoots of daffodil bulbs, just pushing their tips through to the surface

Wet and gloriously glossy Bergenia leaves – otherwise known – very accurately, I think, as "Elephant’s ears" – won’t be long before their gorgeous pink flowers are blooming. Notice the reddish tinge that they take on in cold weather.

Bright green Epimedium leaves, also enjoying appearing at this time of the year.

Abundant heads of Hellebores really bursting forth – some of the earliest flowers in the garden (many were starting to bloom just before Christmas).

A beautiful, fat red bud containing, hopefully, a beautiful, fat red flower on the Rhododendron bush.

And finally – Mother’s Little Helper, up the "Woodpecker Tree". Officially confined to quarters until her check-up at the Vet, she wheedled her way into the garden and has promised to be Very Useful in the springtime. (I wonder how she is with a fork and spade?)