When I heard the paper being delivered this morning, I rolled over half asleep and noted it was darker and there was no bird song – winter is on the way. Before I left my last job, which was London based, the drawing in of the nights used to fill me with dread, because it signalled the return to waking up and travelling to and from work in the dark. The only time I saw natural light was during snatched lunchtime walks along the Embankment or at the weekends. My commuting days are now over (in fact as a result of COVID-19 my office dwelling days seem to currently be firmly on the back burner) and so, although the nights are drawing in, I no longer harbour a gloomy outlook on autumn and the approach of winter. I have been enjoying the changing colours of the leaves trees and waiting to see if I can beat the resident wildlife to some of the bounty autumn brings.
The walnuts on the trees in the fields behind the house are very nearly ready to pick (usually the 1st/2nd week in October). There is the race to get some of them ahead of the damn crows, jackdaws and ravens (no honestly, I saw one on the lawn a couple of days ago – huge and menacing looking and I had my Birds of the British Isles out in a flash to identify him) that reside in the valley. A careful eye needs to be kept out for any appearance of walnut shells in the orchard, a sure indication the birds have moved in and the walnuts are ready for picking. Leave it too late and the beggars will have had the lot.
The other competitor in the nut stakes is the bloody squirrel – I am sure there is more than one of them, but I find it helps to visualise just the one when sticking pins in the wax effigy. He (yep, must be a boy) of bird feeder theft and flowerbed vandalism, also raids the little nut tree we have in the courtyard, but not this year. This year, while weeding industriously in the aforementioned courtyard, I noticed there were nuts on the ground around the tree and so I snaffled them before he could muscle in. I was congratulating myself and sharing the news of my glorious victory with other family members, when they pointed out it probably had more to do with the opportune shooting of a couple of the bird feeder thieves caught red handed, than any skill on my part.
I think the best bit about the arrival of autumn is the odd sunny, warm day that pops up unexpectedly, as a reminder of the summer, and must be enjoyed immediately, as a rare commodity as October approaches. We immediately down tools (sadly the ironing is always still be there when I get back) and head for the boathouse to grab an hour on the river in the sun while we can. Enjoying the last days of what has been a very strange summer.
