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Turn! Turn! Turn! (To Everything There Is a Season) …. Autumn

Autumn by Hugh Brandon-Cox

As Summer Leaves Fall ....

September

The thing I notice most at the beginning of Autumn is that it is still dark when I get up in the mornings to let the dogs out. With mist over the meadows and dewy morns. Rowan berries aplenty; Blackberry too. Red hips and haws colour the hedges a rusty red. And Rosebay Willowherb their tall spikes lit by the evening sunshine, followed soon by clouds of gossamer-soft seeds, floating like fairies on the balmy wind: The end of summer.

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Roland Green (1890 – 1972)

Roland Green: Moorhen

Roland Green (1890 – 1972) was one of Britain’s most accomplished wildlife artists from the 1920s onwards. Living on the Norfolk coast, in the reeds at the edge of Hickling Broad, he specialised in drawing and painting birds, both in in oils and watercolours, illustrating many books on the subject. He was a founder member of the Society of Wildlife Artists (SWLA), originally conceived by Robert Gillmor and Eric Ennion.

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Along an Autumn Hedge

November - Rowland Hilder


Wandering alongside an autumn hedge all yellows, browns, reds, pinks and purples my eye was caught by a bright flash of orange-red ahead of me; a Redstart - its wings flapping in a blur; its tail fanning out - orange-red as it hovers and snatches at a fly. It lands on a fence post, standing upright, its tail shivering. An adult male. Then up it jumps again snatching at another passing insect and lands on a dead branch further along - it’s fiery tail and ‘tweet-tut’ fretting call teasing me on ...

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Artists Inspired by Nature – Gordon Beningfield

Barn Owl by Gordon Beningfield (1936 - 1998)

Gordon Beningfield  (1936-98) - Another post in the series of short biographies about artists and writers inspired by Nature and the Countryside and whose works have fostered my own love of the Countryside – especially Birds.

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Winter Snows

Winter Wildfowl by Maurice Wilson in collaboration with Rowland Hilder


Carefully parting Willow, Bramble and bronzed Bracken fronds that rustled and crackled in the winter frost I could see my secret lake ... well large pond really - an old disused Flight Pond ... a few Mallard quacked and splashed noisily; a couple of Tufted Duck circled warily in the middle while on the far bank a pair of Teal rested, blending well with the pondside rushes ... a Coot called from somewhere in the reeds - well hidden - shatteringly loud ...

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A Moment in Time

In a break with what this blog is all about and because it’s fast coming up to Christmas I am sharing some of the love and joy our daughter Bea brings us everyday with her singing.

A few years ago for her 18th birthday we got her into the studio to record some of her favourite songs of the moment. The result was a one-off CD.

It was a special moment in time, one which we will treasure forever. We never came up with a name for the CD and have never had it published. But it is a treasured keepsake.

A follower of my blog - Lavinia Ross - some 15 years or so ago made her own special keepsake CD (Keepsake) and listening to this again made me think it was time to give my daughter’s CD a name and the credit she deserves. So even though it’s maybe a bit cliche we’ve called it ‘A Moment in Time’.

So as a thank you to our lovely daughter and a way of thanking my readers here is a little joy to share this Christmas.

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