I could feel a chill in the air as I set out on my morning patrol, making sure to grab my fleece, and then avoiding the long dew-covered covered grass so my socks would stay dry from the large hole in my boots.
Wispy Old Man’s Beards have flowered upon the scrub, alongside the pretty white flower clusters which adorn the Wayfaring tree. Bramble has tangled itself throughout; it’s berries ripening its large juicy black fruits.
All is quiet down through the woodland, apart from the odd Woodpigeon cooing from the rustling trees above. As I approach Solent Road, the screech from a Buzzard can be heard calling out every few seconds. I fail to see where the bird is perched, but then catch a glimpse of the large raptor through the trees, as takes flight across the bay.
I turn into Smithfield just as the tractor and flail leaves the gate. The smell of the freshly mown grass fills my nostrils as I find the meadow cut, with the grass drying in the sun ready to collected into hay bales.
A Crow wanders through the cuttings; amongst the decapitated head of Fleabane, Ox-eye Daisy and Wild Carrot. Meadow Brown and Speckled Wood dance along the footpath and the sunlight reflects upon a Garden Snail on the ground. The hum of Crickets now noticeably louder in the areas of ‘set aside’ left uncut for insects to re-populate the meadow next year.
In Saxon field I search for the Praying Mantis spotted here on Monday to no avail, but succeed in getting my socks wet. Robins and Blue Tits sing nearby, and four Magpie churr to one another from the next gateway.
The bird-ringers reported a ‘typical’ morning for this early part of the autumn migration season: Plenty of Willow Warblers, Blackcap, Chiffchaff, Sedge Warbler, a Redstart, with Swallows and a Wheatear spotted flying overhead.