Of birds and bees

          Suddenly its Autumn ! I have been laid low and largely housebound since late August with an infection in my knee, which is only now starting to clear up, so yesterday was my first visit to our wood in many weeks. The last time I was over there it was late summer and now its definitely another season. As always the colour change is good to witness and some plants do its so well. We have a small patch of Blueberries, which not only give us a few berries but also a brilliant show of autumn reds and Guelder Rose can always be relied on to provide some good berry colour. This year looks a reasonable one for chestnuts and certainly the recent winds have brought a lot down. As always those wretched squirrels seem to get to the best ones first but even so there were enough for us to come away with a bag full. Its been very wet so its hard to know at this stage what kind of of a fungi season it will be. Most years we find a few edible boletus to bring home but in very wet conditions they rot fairly quickly.
         The bees seem to have survived the wet and wind pretty well and were still out foraging in numbers yesterday. They belong to a local bee-keeper who pays his rent in a few jars of honey which are always welcome and hopefully the better summer will put them in good health for the winter ahead.
          I am pleased to report that I have once again won a prize from Woodlands.co.uk. Last year its was for this blog and this year it is for my woodland photography.  It is always good to get some recognition but as yesterday showed me just being back in the woods, even for a short visit, is the real prize.

Blueberry showing off its Autumn colour

Guelder Rose

first pickings of the 2019 chestnut harvest