Drifting mist of cool early dawn
reveals dew-spangled spiderwebs.
Gossamer nets and lines of spider silk are everywhere you turn, their fine sticky strands catching on your face and hands as you wander through. A quiet soothing hum of bees gathering in the last pollen accompanies you, and dwindling black columns of tired worker ants wend their way back and forth, their winged queens having swarmed in the summer heat. The rich earthy aroma of damp soil joins the mushroom odour of mouldering bark chip path as the sun breaks through the clouds. Overhead, swooping house martins gather their strength to leave the mud nests under the eaves for warmer climes, and gradually give way to the increasingly visible winter icons, red-breasted robins. Small red-capped goldfinches, with a flash of yellow to their wings, harvest ripened seed heads from faded blooms, while a tiny brown fieldmouse flits around the flower tubs below the bird table, looking for dropped nuts and sunflower seeds, feeding up for the leaner times ahead. Tar-like trails of digested slugs and snails left by shy hedgehogs give evidence of their nocturnal visits.
Heavy boughs laden with berries
ripe fruits lie fallen beneath.
Bright orange bunches of rowan berries are echoed by arcing sprays of tangerine montbretia flowers in the border. Swollen green apples flush red before being shaken to the ground by the strengthening winds and hungry squabbling crows, to be munched on by slugs. At the front, golden yellow crab apples cluster along the branches, clinging on long after the leaves have gone. Much of the bird lime is now stained purple-black from ivy and berberis berries, favourites of the blackbirds. Round the corner, armies of ants guard the canes of dusky red raspberries, and use the curled spined leaves to protect their herds of greenfly. While nearby, crimson blackberries turn namesake black, a tasty addition to apple crumbles, and worth the scratches of harvesting the purple stemmed brambles. Blueberries with their violet bloom, in bronze pots on the patio, are another culinary delight if you are quick enough to beat the birds, who cheat by eating them before they are fully ripe.
Warm golden glow of low evening sun
enriches fiery leaf hues.
Most memorable of all are the beautiful colour changes of the trees, enhanced if the weather is cold and dry, as the chlorophyll is withdrawn from their leaves before they fall. Many are in bonsai form to extend the range that can be grown and admired in a small garden. Bright multi-flame hues of cherry, Japanese maple and tiny cotoneaster, are vividly reflected in the blazing shades of the wild strawberry leaves below. Yellow papery birch arches overhead, forming an umbrella above the copper curled beech, and the boundary is hedged with matching buttery gold mounds of alder buckthorn and field maple. A bright red bush of deeply veined viburnum forms a rich backdrop, while the scarlet feathery leaves of rowan join the tree circle around the pond, together with the pale lemon of slender willow and deeper mustard of hazel and oak. Spiky hawthorn and blackthorn stand guard in darker red shades. The soft golden brown needles of larch, and stiffer Scots pine, add further textures and scents to the growing mosaic carpet of fallen leaves.
Soft darkness encroaches, nature nestles
shorter days herald winter’s rest.
