I have fallen behind somewhat with this seasonal diary, drifting off in a similar fashion to the way autumn is sinking into the soil under the weight of winters approach. After the first flush of inspiration that came on the winds that turned the leaves to crisp flowerings of golden hues, I have been feeling …
Continue reading "SFN Journal – Autumn Almanac: Windblown and Washed Out"
Monday afternoon had everybody talking. It was that same old topic that British folk are famously obsessed with - the weather. When it comes to weather, the ability of our island's maritime climate to bring four seasons in one day means we tend to think nothing can surprise us. I'm not sure where I first …
Continue reading "SFN Journal – Autumn Almanac: The Day The Sky Turned Autumn"
6am. The morning has yet to break, the sky still darkened and unrevealing. A robin has just set up a brave solo from the half-leafed wayfarer tree beyond the bedroom window. Once daylight pulls apart the lingering night the morning will be chilly, and a damp film will cling to any exposed surface. By mid …
Continue reading "SFN Journal – Autumn Almanac: Autumn is ageing"
September was a busy month and the weather seemed to take this to heart. Every day would be a mixed up muddled up combinations of sun and rain; if the morning started nice, it would be showers by the evening, and vice-versa. Any last vestiges of summer have been washed out by the rain. This …
Continue reading "SFN Journal – Autumn Almanac: Hello October"
A buzzard, bent-winged into the wind, was hanging against the clouds as I walked up the driveway to work. I had to acknowledge a pang of mild jealousy as I watched him twist his ruffled feathers and bank, realign, then tilt and soar off over the tree tops. Behind me, the jays were raucous in …
Continue reading "SFN Journal – Autumn Almanac: Into the Wind"
I popped to my Mums house, to exchange a couple of bits of shopping we'd picked up for each other. It is just a 5 minute walk around the corner, but I found myself amazed by the complete image of early autumn offered to me by the remnant hedgerows and woodland edges that soften my …
Continue reading "SFN Journal – Autumn Almanac: Return to Autumn"
I have finally seen the bullfinches. All summer long I have heard their whistles from the long hedge that runs parallel to one of the glasshouses (of the plant nursery where I work) but they have remained elusive and disembodied. Today a movement in the bushes attracted my attention as I headed out on my …
Continue reading "SFN Journal – Autumn Almanac: A Sweet Utterance"
It's been days since I heard the Swifts. July was washed away in a week of heavy showers, and the rain seems to have rinsed the cloud-cutters from the sky. Perhaps they have left us already; they are after all the first summer migrants to head south to their winter quarters. It does seem odd …
Continue reading "SFN Journal – Autumn Almanac: The Snail Bone-Yard"
July 16th 2017 - Silence of the birds The weather has been hot, close and suppressive. I have taken to retreating to the cool shade of the woods when out for a lunch-break walk. Luckily the plant nursery where I work is bordered by woodland, filled with a myriad of textures and colours and illuminated …
Continue reading "SFN Journal – Autumn Almanac: Silence of the Birds"
July 7th 2017 - Nature never holds still for long The TV tennis coverage is proving intense, but beyond the kitchen door the balcony is dappled with shade by the soft weeps of the birch whose triangular leaves always remind me of bunting in the summer breeze. Now and then a formation of swifts cuts …
Continue reading "SFN Journal – Autumn Almanac: Nature never holds still for long"
Sussex Field Notes 