There is no doubt we are in a new month now, a quick look at the calendar will tell us that, but are we in a new season as well? That depends on which version of marking the changing seasons you choose.
The Earth's rotation and tilt of its axis gives us our seasons, with the equinoxes and solstices marking the start/end of each. Autumn this year will start on September 23rd, the autumn equinox. This date varies from year to year due to the Earth's elliptical orbit around the Sun.
On the autumn equinox, day and night are about the same length and
the nights will become gradually longer than the days, until the
winter solstice. It also marks the time of year when the northern hemisphere begins to
tilt away from the Sun, resulting in the sun being lower in the sky and less strong sunlight and
consequently cooler temperatures.
Meteorological seasons however are fixed by the Meteorological Office and the Gregorian calendar we use, with each season starting on the first of a month and ending on the last day of the month 3 months later. Autumn therefore starts on September 1st and ends on November 30th.
So, we are in autumn now meteorologically - and the weather certainly feels like it too. We've had more rain in the last 4 days than in the previous four or five months! The land looks much better and my pond is full, but the Mere looks no different yet.
All very interesting of course but what about the wildlife? What's been going on over the last 9 or 10 days? Not that much is the answer, but still some things took my fancy to mention here.
28 August 2025
A really sunny day and the only photos I took were of butterflies. There were plenty of birds and draonflies about but still the butterflies won:
5 Small Copper were the stars with all three whites, Common Blues and Speckled Woods also seen.
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| Small Copper close up |
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| This and two below - Small Copper |
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| Common Blue |
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| Speckled Wood |
August 30 2025
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| Hornet along the Mere south side |
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| Same Hornet |
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| A distant Hobby over the Mere |
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| Arty farty sunflowers with a filter |
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| Sunflowers without the filter |
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| View of the Mere |
August 31 2025
The Ruff is a smashing wader, with the feathers on its back being outlined in a pale brown making it look almost scaly. Several of these birds were just off KP on an exposed strip of land, so ripe for snapping.
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| This and two below - Ruff from KP |
September 1 2025The long dry spell sort of ended with reasonable rain this afternoon, but the trees were still shedding leaves in the morning making it definitely look like AUTUMN.
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| Eastfield cemetary, not late October though! |
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| Barnacle Geese |
September 2 2025
A confiding Wren came within a few feet of me as I watched dragonflies and butterflies along the fence. A lovely few minutes.
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| This and two below - Wren |
While watching the insects I had three Commas on the same patch of blackberries. This is the most I've seen together at the Mere.
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| Three Commas together |
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| Comma underside showing the diagnostic "C" |
September 4 2025
The Red-legged Partridges that have been seen and herd along the Mere south side have had a successful breeding season and I saw the two adult birds with three young.
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| Red-legged Partridge family |
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| Red-legged Partridge adult |
Warblers are few and far between now so I was pleased to see a Blackcap and a Lesser Whitethroat. No pics of the Blackcap.
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| This and two below - Lesser Whitethroat |
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| Lesser Whitethroat with a caterpillar |
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| Long-tailed Tit |
September 5 2025
This morning I watched a Buzzard land on top of a tree usually favoured by finches. It stayed for about a minute, watching the Linnets fly past, until it was moved on by a crow.
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| Buzzard landing |
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| Scattered the Linnets |
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| A watching brief |
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| Move along sonny, nothing to see here |
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| Yellowhammer in a south side hedgerow |
