Nature Notes

[ErrolTheDragon]

There's a gardening thread which may overlap with this one but I thought people might like to share nature sightings as the season changes. What we see if we can get out for a walk, plants coming into leaf and bloom, creatures in the garden, birds flying overhead - whatever.

Yesterday along the canal: busy wrens, 3 butterflies (tortoiseshell I think). Lots of Lords and Ladies arrow-shaped leaves. A little bank of primroses, lots of celandines and some wood anemones. Yellow iris leaves starting to shoot up in the edge of the canal.

I've been spotting a lot of crickets and grasshoppers lately both in my garden and in the verges when out on walks

Yes, I've heard quite a lot and seen a few when I looked carefully. For one reason and another we've not been walking nearly much as usual over the last couple of months. August is relatively quiet nature-wise though.

www.thetimes.co.uk/article/our-fields-of-golden-nails-are-a-giant-bird-table-2rmqwcvkc?shareToken=1becd0899eeba1cfba258f68dbaee7af

Actually our most recent wildlife discovery was close to home and not very welcome. We cleaned out a large garden storage box and found it was home to many false widow spiders, which we've never seen round here before. I shan't be putting my hands in there without gloves on in future, apparently they can give you a nasty nip. (I've never been aware of spiders biting in my whole life)

that's worrying.

My worst nightmare!

Today we got out for a walk along the canal for the first time in a while. The greater willowherb is a mass of fluffy seedheads, the hawthorn berries are reddening. We saw a beautiful green dragonfly. And several patches of orange balsam, which I've never seen till this year.

Got out for a walk during work today and really noticed the difference in the seasons. Loads of brambles, berries in the trees and leaves falling. Different smell in the air aswell.

At home the garden is suddenly very busy with great tits. Counted 22 while I was making breakfast before work

We had a walk by the next big river up today - while sitting on a beachy bit eating our sandwiches we had a lovely sighting of a kingfisher flying fast and low over the water all the way upstream, disappearing round the bend. Then later at our apple stop, lots of (i think) sand martins were flying overhead. Heron and cormorant in the river too.

A couple of days ago we were walking by the canal near where it ends in the town. There was a pair of swans with 6 big cygnets, and a duck with 3 small ducklings. It seems late for them, but they probably get fed in canalside gardens.

Lucky you seeing a kingfisher @ErrolTheDragon. That flash of blue is so lovely to see.

The bracken is starting to turn brown here and I've been seeing lots of beech leaves falling on my morning walk.

Got out for a good walk today. Seen grasshoppers, dragonflies, ladybirds and a massive selection of mushrooms. Now downloaded an app to upload the photos to and it turns out none of them are edible 😮

Lots of dragonflies by the canal today. Some looked brown but they didn't land so couldn't get a close look. A couple of others did stop - beautiful green with blue on the tail tip, I think southern hawkers.

Out in Mid Atlantic here on an offshore Irish island. Windswept and no trees accordingly but gorse and this year a huge array of wildflowers, Many are posted on my weblog

islandanchorhold.blogspot.com

The blackberry crop is diminished this year as we had a late cold spring, but enough for some jam. They are rich in eg antibiotics .

And many dragonflies this year also,

I've been seeing geese flying overhead in formation on my early morning walk. Lots of rowan and hawthorn berries are ripe for the birds

I fell off this thread. Nothing much to report but I am reading Tristan Gooley’s book The Walkers Guide to Outdoor Clues and Signs which is really interesting.

I’ve also picked my first blackberries.

Noticing the garden birds are very vocal just now

I fell off this thread too! 😬 Glad to have found it again

The change in seasons is very noticeable here, as my local beach is on a bird migration routes. I call it a beach, but it’s more a vast expanse of mudflats and salt marsh, with some gravel thrown in to keep the ringed plovers happy!

Over the last week, we’ve seen huge flocks of birds starting to appear. Most of them will move on, but enough of them will stay and will no doubt provide me with lots of entertainment over the winter months ☺️

Sounds like perfect birdwatching habitat @Crazzzycat.

Despite the autumnal signs, its still pretty warm here in Devon. There are lots of bees active in the garden and on yesterday's walk (stupidly early in the morning to squeeze it into the day) I saw two pipistrelle foraging. One flew right past my face.

The bees enjoying my lavender in the garden. I made my own lavender oil which I am very pleased with

Lots of lovely berries, rosehips and sloes around. I noticed a tiny frog (or possibly toad) today - its body was only about an inch long, I'd have thought they'd be bigger by this time of year?

There are still some lovely wildflowers around - harebells and scabious (such an ugly name for a beautiful plant!)

Along the canal today - more glorious berries and dragonflies. Shoals of dozens of smallish fish - not tiddlers, a good 4-5 inches apiece I'd have said.
The swan family flotilla sailed by in a neat line - parents and the 4 youngsters.

Our garden was covered in butterflies today.

We’ve been trying to make our garden more butterfly friendly, but as it’s been such a rubbish year for butterflies here, we’ve had to wait until September to see some results! The verbena bonaris we planted are proving to be particularly popular.

Out in the wild, the ivy is flowering profusely and is covered in bees, wasps and hover flies. It’s difficult to capture on a photo, but this little patch of ivy had so many bees on it, it was pretty much shaking 😊

I noticed the ivy in the hedgerow along the canal was budding up nicely, but not out yet.

I've just been out on the garden with a torch to see if any frogs have started using our pond. Alas none yet but I did find a very large hedgehog.

Loving the sound of the autumn leaves blowing about the path in the breeze 🍁🍂