Autumn's imminent arrival was very obvious when walking today. Those plants still flowering were surrounded by the flowers that had already gone over:
But it was this natural wreath that surprised me the most:
Butterflies were notably absent again.
The swallows are just hanging on, but the sand martins might have gone.
And geese were everywhere - they seem to have had a bumper year.
But with a slight chill in the air, the season is changing. Metrological autumn starts tomorrow, and it felt like it.
I won't complain. In many ways, it is my favourite season.
Thanks for reading this post.
You can share this post on social media of your choice by clicking these icons:
There are links to this blog's glossary in the above post that explain technical terms used in it. Follow them for more explanations.
You can subscribe to this blog's daily email here.
And if you would like to support this blog you can, here:
Buy me a coffee!
I always start Autumn in August – based on the Celtic year. Berries appear on trees, the days get shorter, birds are largely silent and invisible and plant growth has basically stopped!
Birds were very, very quiet this morning.
But migration starts soon
My Limelight apples are ready for harvest – hundreds of them. And we have a massive clattering of jackdaws which are scattering the horse droppings making them very difficult to rake up! It’s like Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds, but jackdaws! Very autumnal.
I live in Argyll. Autumn starts a month earlier here. I’m a big fan of it for the autumn colours & the movement of wildlife, especially birds. A lovely morning today for some kayak fishing. There were quite a few Peacock butterflies. I saw no Common Sandpipers, so they’ve probably left to migrate south.
Sounds good
I love common sandpipers
Saw a curlew sandpiper last weekend
I take the first day of Autumn to be the September equinox, which this year falls on 22 September. This is the end of astronomical Summer and the start of astronomical Autumn. It’s not too late to see six of the planets in our solar system lined up just before dawn, which is pretty unusual. Mars, Jupiter and Saturn are visible to the naked eye, but you’ll need good binoculars to see Mercury, Uranus and Neptune.
The days are now noticeably shorter and it’s chillier in the mornings and the evenings. The swifts are preparing to go South. I saw a large flock of martins hawking over a field last week, and a majestic kestrel hovered right above me. The country name for kestrels is “windhover” as I’m sure you know – the reason for that was very much in evidence!
I still have butterflies in my garden, although not many; tempted by an unexpected second burst from a buddleia. And a beautiful damselfly popped in yesterday from a nearby pond. So all is not lost.
Autumn used to be my favourite season; as I’ve got older, however, I think I prefer Spring.
We were surprised by how quiet it was today
Tomorrow is another day….
All I can do is look at the amount of jobs around the house I did not get done during the summer!!
And summer these days not seem to peter out like it used to – the curtain just sort of comes down, and that’s your lot.
I have had butterfly’s visit my garden regularly up to a couple of weeks ago. The drop in Bees and wasp numbers is noticeable. I have only seen Jays occasionally when once they were quite regular. How fast our summer seems to pass.
Jays are rare for me.