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sudden_serenityAutumn is my favourite time of year. I enjoy the transition times; autumn, spring, dawn and dusk (and Bronze Age to Iron Age from my days as an archaeology student.)
This year the change in seasons came within a week. We normally have a gentle slide into the next season, giving us time to adapt and embrace. This year the cold came overnight and the trees rushed to catch up. The field behind the house is littered with walnut shells that the birds have taken and opened to get to the prize inside. The hedgerows are glowing with the garnets and rubies of haws and hips. Suffolk is not my home and there are some aspects of life here that I still struggle with after seven years, but the natural world is not one of them. I had never seen such a bounty. The hedges are endless colours or crab apples (pink and yellow and green), the thousands of haws and sloes and the gold of field maples and oak. It's glorious.
There's no shortage of wildlife either - another joy. I regularly see Barn Owls and I have heard a Tawny Owl at night in the summer. And there are hares up here which I have only ever seen in Italy before. Earlier this year in the spring we drove back from Knettishall Heath through local village to see a field full of hares - there must have been eight or ten, all racing around, chasing and leaping. It was glorious - something I hope I will never forget. We have deer in the fields behind us - roe and muntjack. There are not many rabbits or foxes and I have my suspicions why that should be. There are badgers too, but I have not seen those other than beside the road having been hit by cars.
This year the summer stayed hot and a lot of hedgehogs had a second litter of hoglets. These babies were born too late to gain enough weight to hibernate and many of them have died already or will die in the coming months. It such a shame as hedgehog numbers have been in decline for years.
Next weekend the clocks go back and it will be Samhain. Pumpkins and decorating as we embrace the US version of this festival more each passing year. It will be food to find some authenticity to this festival this year and see how I can embrace that. I was born on the 2dn of November - all Souls day. Like many ancient celebrations, the date for each is not set in stone. I believe my birthday is within the window of the Samhain festival, which gives me more determination to give it its due.
This year the change in seasons came within a week. We normally have a gentle slide into the next season, giving us time to adapt and embrace. This year the cold came overnight and the trees rushed to catch up. The field behind the house is littered with walnut shells that the birds have taken and opened to get to the prize inside. The hedgerows are glowing with the garnets and rubies of haws and hips. Suffolk is not my home and there are some aspects of life here that I still struggle with after seven years, but the natural world is not one of them. I had never seen such a bounty. The hedges are endless colours or crab apples (pink and yellow and green), the thousands of haws and sloes and the gold of field maples and oak. It's glorious.
There's no shortage of wildlife either - another joy. I regularly see Barn Owls and I have heard a Tawny Owl at night in the summer. And there are hares up here which I have only ever seen in Italy before. Earlier this year in the spring we drove back from Knettishall Heath through local village to see a field full of hares - there must have been eight or ten, all racing around, chasing and leaping. It was glorious - something I hope I will never forget. We have deer in the fields behind us - roe and muntjack. There are not many rabbits or foxes and I have my suspicions why that should be. There are badgers too, but I have not seen those other than beside the road having been hit by cars.
This year the summer stayed hot and a lot of hedgehogs had a second litter of hoglets. These babies were born too late to gain enough weight to hibernate and many of them have died already or will die in the coming months. It such a shame as hedgehog numbers have been in decline for years.
Next weekend the clocks go back and it will be Samhain. Pumpkins and decorating as we embrace the US version of this festival more each passing year. It will be food to find some authenticity to this festival this year and see how I can embrace that. I was born on the 2dn of November - all Souls day. Like many ancient celebrations, the date for each is not set in stone. I believe my birthday is within the window of the Samhain festival, which gives me more determination to give it its due.
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