Weather

This last while the weather has been so changeable it is hard to know what season we are in, firstly it was so warm we might have been on the mediterranean, then it turned positively arctic with strong gales and heavy rain. We had a couple of bright sunny days but the wind was cold, now we are back to warmer days but wild and wet again. The gales have all but striped the trees now and they are showing their wonderful skeletal structures. I think that perhaps I like them almost best now as their true strength and beauty can be seen. The time trees are at their very best is spring  when the leaves are just unfurling and you can still see their structure. The ground is still very dry as I walk with Ben round the fields and down  the old bog road, I can still go in my shoes and Ben comes in clean which is a huge bonus at this time of year.

Blackberries

When I have been walking for the last couple of weeks I have been looking at the fruit ripening on the brambles but every time it rained they got spoiled and also I kept forgetting to take a container with me. Well today I got it right and picked just over a pound of berries off only one hedge. I made them into stewed apple and blackberries when I got in. While I was picking Ben had a wonderful time going in and out through the hedge. He put up a couple of pheasants and ran himself ragged after them. He lay down and slept once he had stopped panting while I did the stewed fruit. It smelled wonderful cooking and tastes just as good.

Pheasants

It is very windy today with bright sunshine and heavy showers. Ben and I took a chance of a walk between showers. Down the road Ben cocked his ears and then dived through the  nearby gate, almost immediately a bunch of about a dozen young pheasants shot in the air flying in all directions as they went. Ben went chasing round after them. As he came back out of the gate he paddled through a pool of liquid mud. I had to wash his legs before he could go indoors when we got back, but he did enjoy himself.

RED SQUIRREL SIGHTING

As I was away for a few days I didn't go on any walks with my dog Ben. However over the last week we have been out every day, the weather has been very variable from pleasant sunshine to torrential rain when we both got soaked. I have seen  evidence of what I felt sure was lots of activity by the red squirrel, in the form of dropped and broken hazel nuts, but until this evening had not caught sight of it. Today just before six o'clock I saw some thing moving out of the corner of my eye , on turning my head I saw the red squirrel leaping down the big scots pine in our front garden. It went onto another conifer and then to a large Euonymus and back from there through the fir tree to the pine trees again. I lost the squirrel then as Ben appeared nosing around the front and I whistled him inside so that he wouldn't chase it. I hope it comes again. We have seen them in the garden at intervals ever since we moved here, but hadn't seen one for several years. We still have some swallows but they are getting ready to fly south now and we will probably loose them as soon as there is a northerly wind to help them on their way. I shall be sorry to see the swallows  go as I love to see them skimming round the trees as Ben and I go for our walks. The conkers have all come down now and the chestnut trees are almost bare after the gales. The heavy rain and humid atmosphere brought out the damp Autumn smell  this morning when we were out walking.