Indian Summer

It came, it went. We had one beautiful day of September sunshine yesterday and it was heavenly. A single world-weary small tortoisehell spent all day in the sun on the iceplant and there was a comma on the ivy that covers the old apple tree.

Comma (Photo: Tim Bekaert, Wiki Commons)

The comma had that mint condition new look about it as though it only just emerged. In the bright sunshine it looked so vividly orange that I decided I needed to take a photo, but of course by the time I had camera, memory card and batteries there was no sign of it.
It did get me to spend some time looking at the ivy and the dozens of flies of all kinds that were buzzing around the flowers on the sun-warmed side of the tree. There were so many of them that it really underlined what an important part late-blooming ivy plays at this end of the year.
I also had a look at my 'followed tree' for the first in a while. With hindsight it wasn't a good choice because you have to sight your way through nettles to get to it.
Hidden away in the vegetation the cut end of ash looks more than ever like the head of some sort of animal to me. The minotaur, maybe.
It's leaves are still mostly green, but they are starting to show signs of change. Brown spots are forming and leaf edges are curling.
And throughout the day there were swallows feeding over the valley. When I went into the garage after dark there was no sign of the last lonely fledgling that has been roosting on its own in there for a week or more - hopefully it joined up with the others and is now on it's way south.
 

Leaf watch 2

Photo: Holly Rollins

Everything seems to be changing here just now. On Saturday the sun brought out a few small tortoiseshells and they spent the afternoon on the iceplants, but they moved as though they were in slow motion.
Our cherry tree is shedding leaves and there are more yellows and browns in the hedge. Last night there was just one swallow roosting in the garage and with the weather getting stormy I worry that it has lost its opportunity; I wonder why it stayed behind when its siblings moved south?

Leaf watch

Ash

When does autumn start to happen? Apparently, it's officially the autumn equinox - September 22.

But isn't it more about what's happening in the garden and further afield - dew on spider's webs, swallows checking out and  acorns under foot. And leaves turning, of course.

I spent some time today in the garden looking for leaf colour changes and, as yet, not much is going on. Leaves on the grapevine are yellowing fast, but - sadly - the bunches of grapes don't show any sign of ripening.

Vine

But in the hedge the willow, blackthorn, hawthorn and ash are all still pretty much as they have been all summer. My watched tree, an ash, has leaves that are beginning to go crispy around the edges, but only a few.

The only native tree that is beginning to change colour is elder, which now has lots of lemon yellow leaves in among the green ones. It's also one of the first of the hedgerow trees to come into leaf, so I reckon it rates as the leader of the pack.

Elder

Absent friends

At last a bit of sunshine and we've got butterflies. A few at least. In a good year the buddleia by the front door is covered with late summer butterflies, including red admirals, small tortoiseshells and commas. Today there were three red torties - just the three - but maybe the weather will hold and more will turn up soon.

The iceplants are just coming into flower and should be a magnet for butterflies too, but they're not working their magic either. That said, they have been buzzing with honey bees for most of the afternoon so they're not going to waste.