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The many exotic colours of summer may have faded from the garden but now it’s time for the leaves to show off. I love this time of year when red and golden leaves cascade gently down from the trees covering the ground in a warm blanket. The dry leaves crunch beneath my feet as I walk through the garden and they rustle as the wind swirls them around the base of the trees.
Of course, at this time of year the leaves don’t stay dry for long, with blustery rain, mists and dewy mornings. Around the compost heap and wild area of the garden, fascinating fungi poke their heads above the damp leaf litter. They come in so many different shapes, colours and sizes, and it’s amazing how many you can spot once you start looking for them amongst the damp earth and rotten wood.
I spot a squirrel and magpie chase each other around the garden fighting over half an apple that they’ve found, while a shy jay stays out of sight and hides an acorn under some leaf litter.
I suddenly hear rooks squawking loudly from high up in the tree tops as a buzzard starts to slowly circle above the garden. A large group of chattering starlings watch from the telephone wire as the buzzard soars upwards, higher and higher. Luckily for the garden birds, the buzzard isn’t hunting.
I watch as birds flit from the hedge to the feeders for a tasty treat of suet mix and peanuts that I’ve put out for them. Blue tits hover by the shed roof picking up spiders that have made their webs there.
I love walking into the garden after a dewy autumnal morning and noticing all the delicate spider webs glistening with tiny water droplets. This is just one of the reasons I leave tall grasses and plants with seed heads over winter; so spiders can weave their webs between them and also give shelter to insects, as well as food for birds.
With many damp days though, comes the invasion of slugs. Thankfully there are some little helpers that visit our garden that love to eat slugs.
On drier nights a badger visits to forage for fallen nuts, berries and slugs whilst when it is damp, hedgehogs rush around noisily munching on slugs trying to fatten up for their approaching hibernation.
I love to be out in the autumnal weather even if it is raining or windy as it helps me feel part of nature, so get out and embrace the cooler wet weather and see what you can spot in your garden.
ljaynature 