1989 October to December
October 1st
Gorgeous weather all this week
and today was no exception. Blue sky and warm sunshine we walked
up Longworth Lane where some Conkers had fallen. I found a round
green case about the size of a golf ball covered in deadly
spine-like prickles. Inside were two nuts, flattened and
squashed. It was the fruit of the Oriental Beech, though I did
not locate the tree. Under many trees I found round brown balls
with curled spikes on them, some sort of seed maybe, but I don’t
know what? Acorns, Hips and Hawthorn berries are all now out.
October 2nd
Lovely weather again. The
Primula and Primrose are out in the garden. Very strange they
should flower at this time of year unless the mild weather makes
them think it is spring.
Over a
week ago I picked some branches of two different species of
Ornamental Whitebeam at the park near Andrew Lane. One species
has red berries similar to Hawthorn berries: I think it is the
Pyrenean Whitebeam. The other has almost identical leaves but
much larger orange berries, the size of a gooseberry. I think it
maybe a hybrid between species of Whitebeam. David has cut up
yesterday’s strange seed. Inside was a flat round nut, which I
am going to plant. Then maybe I’ll find out where it came from!
October 12th
Last week I saw another
Rainbow. Yesterday I saw two small fawn-brown fungi-like fairy
parasols in the lawn of a nearby house.
October 15th
A hazy day with weak sunshine.
David and I walked past the mill at Eagley Cricket fields where,
in a shady spot, Woody Nightshade was covered in berries like
blood-red rubies. At Longworth Clough a Coal Tit flew past, and
I saw a Dipper stood on shingle in the river. I knew it was a
Dipper because of its characteristic white chest.
In Tonge
Clough, Blue Tits, Starlings, Blackbirds, Magpies and a Great
Tit were flying about. One night last week two large 2” long
brown and yellow-striped caterpillars were crawling over the
flags. It was pitch black and I never knew caterpillars moved
about in the dark. Unless they were moth caterpillars! Moths =
dark, (get it?)
I saw
berries on the Holly in a hedge down the Clough as early as two
weeks ago. They’re still out. The Dog Roses are covered in
orangey red berries or hips. Rose hips are full of vitamin C,
more-so than oranges, and can be used to make Rose Hip syrup and
wine. Although the berries eaten raw are actually poisonous!
October 18th
Tonight I found a tiny Snail in
the shed. I have only seen empty shells before but I could see
the snail in this one. On rare occasions I find these snail
shells, they are the only snail species I have found, apart from
pond snails. The strange thing is they are so small when full
grown. I believe it is because there is not enough calcium in
local soils for them to build a big shell.
October 19th
A very warm and gentle
wind blew around today amongst the bright yellow leaves of the
Ash and Maple, with the faded orange of the Mountain Ash leaves
and the russet-red of the fading Brambles. Everywhere the leaves
are changing, russet reds, oranges, yellows, browns and greens,
fading and falling with the smell of burning wood and rotting
foliage in the air.
October
30th
A sunny Autumn day. I went to see Pat. Along Belmont Road,
scarlet hips were on the Dog Roses. I saw Ragwort, Yarrow,
Buttercups and Daisies still flowering, and picked Knapweed and
Red Clover. The moors were a lovely rich orangey brown, with a
cream carpet of fine dead grass below them. The beautiful
browns, greens, yellows, reds and oranges of the changing leaves
were breathtaking to look at. Crows were feeding in the meadows.
In the
Clough below our house Blue, Great and Coal Tits were feeding
with Sparrows, Starlings and Blackbirds. The feel of an old
granite stone, or the rough trunk of a tree, is wonderful. Few
people use or appreciate their sense of touch to the full.
October 31st
I’ve got a job! Full time,
Mon-Fri. Permanent!!! Me and Cindy went for a picnic at the
park. Until recently you could still find the occasional bit of
late blossom on the Rowans which are now loosing their leaves,
but quite a few berries still cling on to the trees.
I was
just thinking wouldn’t it be nice to see some Bullfinches
amongst the trees when before my very eyes a pair of Bullfinches
rose above me in the sky and flew away. I saw the rose pink
breast of the male and mauve of the female with their strong jet
black beaks. I think God has a large part to play with such
‘coincidences’ and I thanked him for such a lovely day.
November 5th
Cindy’s Birthday. She is
twelve. Kitty bought her some chocolate buttons, Daddy got her
two chews and I bought her a tin of Pedigree Chum. Also I’ve
made her a chocolate cake. About a fortnight ago we rescued a
Hedgehog which had got its head stuck in a crisp packet. If we
had not come along it would have suffocated. In the same way
Mice and Voles can get trapped in milk or other bottles. Litter
louts don’t think or mustn’t care about the destruction to
wildlife they cause!
Yesterday was wild and windy with pelting showers of rain and
one of hail. Many seagulls were flying over the Clough, so it
must have been rough at sea. The seagulls often seem to fly in
formation, almost in ranks.
November 26th
About three weeks ago there was a hazy glow of a white
halo around the moon. On the 20th there was a
crescent of a moon in the sky at dawn. On the 23rd
there was a beautiful deep clear-blue sky, with glowing pink
clouds over the horizon and white trails where aeroplanes had
passed. On the 24th the sky was blue again, with a
sea-green sky above the horizon, blotched with purple clouds,
and aeroplane trails like fluent brushstrokes on a canvass.
I saw a
Robin, Wren and Blackbirds flying about near the Mill, where I
now work. Last week at dinner time in broad daylight, there was
a young Hedgehog eating bread, munch, munch, outside the mill.
It had lovely beady-brown eyes.
December 2nd
For the last few days there
have been patches of freezing fog around the country, and last
night the sky was quite clear. Clear enough, to see several
constellations in the jet black sky. I think I saw Gemini,
Aurora, Cygnus and Venus. Cygnus has three stars, positioned
like the handle points of a sword.
Walking
up the steps from Eagley to Bromley Cross, I was amazed by the
diversity of bird life in the Hawthorn hedge and surrounding
wasteland. There were Magpies moving stealthily hop by hop
through the scrub, and a Mistle Thrush singing. Male and female
Blackbirds were standing motionless in the trees, trying not to
be seen. There were Chaffinches and Blue Tits looking
methodically for titbits to eat. I was also delighted to see a
Greenfinch, with a very characteristic finch beak, and a
delightful little Goldcrest creeping about the branches in a
mouse-like way, searching for food.
December 22nd
I went to the farm the third
week of December. It was bitterly cold, and the sparse covering
of snow had frozen. Everywhere was bleak and beautiful. A male
Goldeneye steamed along through the lodge like a Mississippi
boat as if I’d never been away. Lots of Starlings were grazing
the fields and there were several Magpies which you didn’t often
use to see when I was there.
I went
again the Thursday before Christmas to give my Tufty a love and
a cuddle, and a Christmas meal. I took him meat, milk and
biscuits, and hugged him close so as he would know I love him,
and while he lives and breathes, I shall always return. The sky
had been cloudy, but when I arrived back home it was blue with
the brilliant sun just on the horizon, where a few small purple
clouds gathered around its brilliant rays.
December 23rd
My last day at work before
Christmas. I walked up Birtenshaw steps and Mistle Thrushes and
Chaffinches were hopping through the bushes, while I saw a
beautiful Wagtail with his blue black and yellow belly bobbing
around at Queens Avenue. At the mill you nearly always see a
Wren and a Robin moving secretively about the railings and
bushes.
It looks
like snow to me; I do hope so. My Willow tree cutting has grown
roots in a jar of water; some Hazel catkins from Belmont have
opened indoors; there is another flower beginning to open on the
Primrose outside; and one of my Oak twigs with dead leaves on,
grew a new shoot with little green oak leaves on, as though it
were Spring! The catkins are so open that, when you brush them
with your fingers, you become covered in a cloud of pollen.
Merry Christmas