The Countryside in September

September mornings are chilly, and wisps of mist linger in the valleys till after sunrise. The air is fresh with the scents of autumn and new earth, as ploughs break the stubble, and as the brown stripes widen over the field, gulls and a few rooks follow the tractor.

It has been warm, but the evenings are beginning to draw in, with heavy dews on the grass. The Harvest Moon is one of the glories of September, for it hangs so low, and looks so round and golden. A source of extra light to help the harvesters with sickles and scythes, long ago. The full moon gets higher and higher in the sky from the summer solstice to the winter solstice - take a look and see!

The trees have just started to change colour - first the horse chestnut, with its golden leaves, and then the sycamore with leaves which seem to just turn brown and shrivel at the edges. The leaves of some young birch trees have turned yellow, and the rowans are losing some of their leaves as the birds ravage the red fruits.

Fruits of all kinds, both from the orchard and from the woods, are ripening now. Apples, pears, greengages and plums show fat and colourful and there are hosts of wild fruits. The oak tree is full of ripening acorns; the hazel nuts are filling out their white kernels, horse-chestnuts are growing large and brown in their prickly cases, and beech-mast is hanging on the beeches. Elderberries are turning purple and becoming juicy; their leaves starting to turn pink or purple. The elders are showing great variation - some with ripe fruit and others whose fruit is still green, depending on their location and type. Generally speaking, they are ripe earlier this year, and we already have quite a lot of elderberry wine on the go!!

^{Birch Boletus}

As well as the rowan berries, the guelder rose holds up its translucent crimson clusters for the birds. Yew 'berries' have developed their juicy red coat, and the holly berries are stating to turn pink.. The ash and sycamore hang out their bunches of " keys ", sending some of them down to the ground, spinning in the breeze. Cones are beginning to mature on cedar, pine, fir, larch and spruce.

September is the main month for fungi -in woods and fields one may discover fungi of various colours – the red and white Fly Agaric, the large scaly Parasol, the circles of Fairy Ring Champignons, large puffballs and creamy white Field mushrooms, and this year, with the warm days and plentiful rain, there have been unusual varieties springing up in profusion. In one half hour walk, we came home with ten different edible varieties!" (We leave the inedible ones behind!)

Visit the Fungus Garden

Now the flowers have begun to reduce in numbers, though there are still lots to be found; ragwort, mayweed, , eye-bright, fumitory, knapweed, red campion, knotgrass, harebell, yarrow, thistles of all kinds. shepherd's purse, chicory, heart's-ease, gorse, chickweed, spurges, thrift, scarlet pimpernel, wild teasel, scabious, white dead-nettle, groundsel, daisy and dandelion.

_{'Magic Mushrooms' Liberty Caps}

The autumn crocus (meadow saffron) is flowering now. It has no leaves - these it grows in the following spring. It is a delicate flower, in shape like a crocus, although it is not a true member of that family.

_{Hawthorn berries - 'Haws'}

Hips, haws, blackberries, bryony berries, all decorate the hedgerow with colour. Below stands the poisonous spike of scarlet berries belonging to the wild arum or cuckoo pint. The fruit of the deadly nightshade gleams purple-black in the odd places where it still grows, and purple fruit (sloes) are beginning to stud the prickly blackthorn. There are more sloes this year than last, so it may be possible to make some sloe gin as a warming winter drink. I will not pick any until they have been 'frosted' to make them sweeter and softer.

_{Rosebay Willow-Herb, gone to seed, under a threatening sky}

The seeds of the thistles, thistledown, float in the air; poppy-heads, dry and brown, shake out their black seeds; willow-herb splits its long narrow pods and the wind blows out the fluffy-winged seeds. Everywhere there are seeds to be seen, ready to go on their journey to find a home away from the mother plant.

Most of our remaining migrant birds will be going this month, though the swallows and house-martins may stay until October. One by one the different species will disappear - fly-catchers, sand-martins, white-throats, yellow wagtails - they depart southwards and leave the woods and hills strangely empty. The robins beginning to sing to us - we hear his rich piping song in the garden; we hear the blackbird and the thrush using their voices once more too, and the tawny owl is heard hooting in the night.

Those animals that are going to hibernate prepare themselves for the winter by feasting and getting fat. Hedgehogs, dormice and bats all feed well - the long foodless winter is a drain on their systems, and they must be healthy and fat at the beginning. They are thin when it is over, but they will at once find plenty of food in the spring. Frogs go to the bottom of their ponds to hibernate as soon as the weather turns really cold, and newts and toads seek for a safe hiding-place under stones, or in the banks. Snakes and lizards enjoy the sun when it is warm, but will soon disappear into winter hiding-places.

_{Ivy flowers with wasps feeding}

The insect world is becoming less and less evident now, as the cold nights come. The sun still warms them in the daytime, but the nights are chilly and many die. Butterflies and moths are still numerous, for late broods emerge and fly in the sunshine, and many can still be seen feeding off buddleias in gardens. The ivy has started to flower, and thousands of bees, wasps and flies of all kind can be seen feeding from the flowers of a mature ivy.

^{Ivy Plant}