27TH SEPTEMBER

 

You know Autumn has arrived on the East coast when you hear the happy sound of "Wink, wink" for a few minutes then and look up to find a squadron of Pink Footed Geese passing over head.   Poor things have just flown over a thousand miles from their breeding grounds in Iceland or Greenland so they can spend winter here with us. 

Over the coming weeks the sky and fields will be full of them ... wonderful!

 

Yesterday I picked the eating apples before they all fell to the ground!

It has been a bumper crop this year!

This may look like a complete waste but we don't pick up the windfalls to allow lots of happy blackbirds to share the bounty.  

In a few weeks, the Redwings and Fieldfares will arrive and finish off any that are left over.

We have made cider in the past but crushing them for apple juice is much simpler.

We have a large old cooking apple tree that covers the lawn in windfalls ... some years ago a couple walking by commented on all the apples so I shouted to them to help themselves ... I offered them bags and told them they were welcome to come back to collect as many as they wanted ... they now return each year to exchange a jar of chutney for a fresh crop of apples and damsons ...

We make sure not all the fruit goes to the wildlife ... we have plenty of freezer space and ways to preserve it.

Here are links to a couple of apple related recipes from my old Woodlouse House blog:

APPLE CHUTNEY

PORK & APPLES IN CIDER

First thing this morning I watched a Treecreeper  running up the side of the old tree like a little mouse.  It is resident in the UK all year but few people notice them.

Later in the day one of our Great Spotted Woodpeckers poppped by.

The red patch at the back of the head tells you this is a male: juvenials have a full red crown while females have no red feathers on their heads at all.

A small group of blue tits were minding their own business in a bush near to me when a blackbird suddenly called very loudly and bashed into them sending them flying for cover ...  seconds later a Sparrowhawk came through in search of dinner ... I thought the blackbird was attacking them but it turned out he was protecting them!

Yesterday afternoon I attended to a couple of planters in our village.  I had to dig out the fuschias, begonias and dahlias before the frosts arrive so those plants are now settling into the greenhouse ... hopefully they will survive to see another outing next spring!

Obviously I was forced to buy more plants to fill the gaps! Such a chore!!

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