Sunday 10 October 2010

The Merging of the Seasons

An October baby, I love my birth month: it's gentle-warm sun and the way we value the shortening daylight hours. I also enjoy the gradual changing of colours as autumn seeps in and leaves fanfare farewells.

This Croston Finney morning began with powder blue skies. Summer hovered in full fields of maize, and wild pansies quietly persisted amongst the rustle of barley waiting to be cut. Later, the stubble fields, bales and temporary clouding-over showed autumn's easing in. The trees, too, were straddling the seasons; some green, some yellow, some bearing only keys.Vocal skylarks celebrated the bounty of the fields. They approached two hundred in number and there was plenty for all. Over a hundred goldfinch likewise mustered for chatter and food. Crows, rooks, jackdaws all filled the sky with caws but none so loud as the grey heron's rasping croaks.

Common darters still danced over boggy fields where three wintering snipe were flushed by my presence. How rapid their wing beats; how stodgy my steps! A small white (butterfly) also floated by.
Back on a track. Yellow hammers perched on the telephone wires, their faces bright as summer suns. Corn buntings were harvesting the stubble, their numbers yet to increase. And the hedgerows held out their hips and haws for the redwings who have yet to arrive.
October, my birth month, I love.

8 comments:

The Weaver of Grass said...

Lovely to see you at the top of my blog list Carol - I was wondering where you had gone.
Do you have fieldfares and redwings already? They have not reached here yet but there is plenty for them to eat when they do arrive.

Mistlethrush said...

Hi Weaver,

Good to be missed! I haven't seen any fieldfares yet. Although I haven't seen any redwings, a couple of friends have seen them in Chorley area but only in two's and three's.

Crafty Green Poet said...

I love October too, just come back from Motrose Basin where the geese & ducks were amazing, will blog about that soon

Caroline Gill said...

Many happy returns, Carol. I hope (in the words of DT) your birthday 'began with the water' and 'the birds'.

How exciting to see so many Goldfinches.

Mistlethrush said...

CGP - look forward to the blog.

CG - Thanks

Anonymous said...

So it was a typo after all, and here's me thinking it was some kind of poetic neologism which I didn't get!! What a relief!

DM

Unknown said...

Hey Gorgeous, Happy Birthday for this month, loved reading your blogs. Any hints on how to stop the sulphur crested cockatoos from nipping off my newly planted tomatoes? Maybe you could come over again and observe them at 5.45am when they want to play and frolic in my Spring veggies!

-blessed b9, Catalyst4Christ said...

<- thats sexually subliminal!!!!!!
Thats whot I used to do!!!!!!!!!!!
Egad...

from the field book

from the field book
An inspiring gift for anyone who enjoys watching nature.