September Song

We couldn’t quite believe it when a pair of swallows started building a nest over the front door in August. Perhaps they were just practising in their spare moments. But no, it was for real of course and eggs were duly laid. Despite putting the parent birds to flight every time anyone came in or out the house they successfully incubated and hatched four chicks, and last weekend the quartet fledged, to a chorus of cheers from us. With an epic journey to southern Africa ahead and time running out for them to be robust enough to fly with the flock this late brood will need all the luck they can get to survive such an arduous and perilous journey.

Glad to learn it had been generally a good year for butterfly numbers across the UK, according to the annual Big Butterfly Count. Having noted lots of red admirals in the garden it didn’t surprise me that this generalist species was one of the top breeders in 2023. Along with cabbage whites, lesser tortoiseshells and peacocks they’ve been frequently seen feasting on our beds of late flowering plants, like phlox (above) and Michaelmas daisies as well as on rotting windfalls of fruit.

The bench overlooking the semi-circular studio bed is always a good spot to sit and take in views of a fine day. The tracery of tall multi-flowering stems are a particular delight. More surprisingly this summer, one morning before breakfast, a young adder was spied sliding out of the bed and along the path’s stone chippings. A rare sighting as they were last seen many years ago on nearby crags, sunbathing. I’m more pleased than concerned as this otherwise shy creature is an effective catcher of mice and rats and I hate having to put poison down to control numbers when natural predators (and the farm’s visiting cat) can do the job. It appears to have been a good year for these endangered and often misunderstood native reptiles, with lots of sightings up in the neighbouring forest so we shouldn’t be too surprised to find evidence of them closer to home.

A good apple crop this year, and the damsons likewise. In previous seasons blackbirds have been raiding the dessert apples growing along the front wall but this year we’ve been particularly plagued by wasps, making the picking an extra careful operation. They’re seduced by the aroma of extra sweetness in the red skinned varieties I’ve planted for juicing, so fortunately the insects assiduous mining of the fruit isn’t a problem. A regular supply of pure apple juice is our unmatched autumn delight, with some put aside in plastic bottles for the freezer.

The big green Arthur Turner cooking apples from the kitchen garden I peel and slice and dry for consumption through the long winter months. By trial and error have worked out a combination of hours in the lower Aga oven finishing off with drying all day on a non-stick surface over one of the lids before storing in glass jars. Always amazes me just how charged with intense flavour the dried fruit is.

Taking advantage of that recent week of good weather I cruised the meadow stuffing a large envelope with yellow rattle, yarrow, ox eye daisy, wild carrot, self heal and other assorted flower seeds. These can be sown once I’ve scarified the meadow ground sufficiently by back end.

Our regular contractor had had to put off his annual visit and the meadow grasses were getting very dense and going beyond for strimming. We needn’t have worried as Chris arrived with his new acquisition, a ride on mower of a type commonly used by local authorities for wayside management which meant he could mow the whole triangular patch of sward in just minutes. The older he gets the more he loves using this kind of kit, he confides with a laugh. Being the great guy he is Chris also extended his mechanical mow onto the crags, our adjacent four acres of field, topping the nearest soft rushes and thistles, thus giving the grasses a chance to reclaim territory. A handy reminder we need him back earlier in the year to weed wipe before rushes and thistles have time to set seed, which is the only way to keep on top of their remorseless encroachment.

For various reasons we’ve been idle walking the bounds of the field this summer so were pleasantly surprised on a recent foray to come across a lovely swathe of yarrow, stitchwort and harebells in the higher drier parts. Southridge normally keep their posse of Texel tups on our patch by this time of year, and the delay has seen a denser growth of grass than normal, which may favour this late flowering.

Delighted that the new pond has thrived in its first year. brass buttons & penny royal in flower, sedums at home in the gaps between surrounding stones and a succession of native alba lily flowers standing out atop the cool dark depths.

The coming of autumn, with more time spent at home after summer excursions, has given rise to a determined clear out of unwanted accumulated stuff here at the corner house. When Kim fished out this wonderfully expressive stone litho print of Meg, one of the family’s collies from farming days, I photographed it before it left us for a new home with old farming friends and neighbours. A beautiful study that bears witness to the outstanding quality of her work in one of the most time consuming and technically demanding of artistic mediums.