Saturday 29 August
Today really did feel like the summer is over. It was pitch black outside by 8.30pm this evening.
I know the summer isn’t officially over but, walking around our local patch this afternoon, I couldn’t help but think back briefly over what I have seen.
March and April were very much the months for wildflowers and the vivid colours of Spring kicking things off. May and June was all about the birds; their song, nesting and new arrivals. July was the month of insects filling the air and the garden. August has been play time for butterflies, months and fungi.
I am looking forward to September and what will take the main stage? I had never paid much attention to the phases that nature goes through during a year. Obviously, the spring and summer have their main characters and identifiers but it has generally been the weather and the length of the days that has characterised this for me in the past. I assumed everything came out about the same time as each other. By noticing nature, it is so much more defined, everything has its own time slot. And they have to in order that they support one another.
The trees and hedgerows fill with leaves to provide shelter for the nesting birds. The young birds need feeding, invertebrates being the main course. Then, as everything cools down a bit, so the mushrooms start to grace the damper grounds.
So, back to how dark it was at 8pm this evening. Our lights were flicking on and I even tested the heating too.
The Bald Birder 