Everyone seems to be watching autumn

… so come outside for a while and see for yourself. We’ve had a few very cold crisp autumn days at the moment, ideal for wrapping up and taking a walk to see for yourself. See how much the meadow and the surrounding woodlands have changed since the summer.

'Autumnwatch' is appearing everywhere over the next 2 weeks in various forms, including over half-term some of the younger nature detectives will be out and about again in the meadow and surrounding woodland on their ‘spooky’ bug hunt. Its also an opportunity to add more links to the blog for all things autumn in the form of the autumnwatch bloggers and see what the wildlife trusts are doing over this 2-week event.

Common theme for autumn

Well the weather was kind to us in the end this afternoon when we went out to bash some more of that willow. Mos tof it was in one area thus making the way into the park/meadow more inviting as well as an opportunity to think about a new planting scheme and in another helping to increase biodiversity in the future.

Another day of scrub-bashing ahead

OK its wet, but I know some of us will be out there to cut the willow down --- am sure a bit of weather won't do any harm, honest. Will report later with a few photies.

Not a lot to report. The other evening though as it was going dusk, I spied birds of prey hovering over the meadow in search of supper. Answers on a postcard please as to what they were - I didn't get a good look at them because the light was pretty bad through the murky sky. I will have more to report though after the weekend as we have another scrub-bashing session on the meadow - meet up at 12.45-1pm on Sunday (26 October) in the car park, but don't forget the clocks are a changing this weekend. Even if its raining some of us will be out there for as long as we can as there's so much to do.
Also, the little nature detectives will be out and about over half-term on a spooky bug hunt and trying to find signs of Autumn.

The changing colours of autumn

Beyond the meadow salmon are a leaping

I thought I would suggest a trip beyond the boundaries of the meadow that would be of interest to everyone. Last night, I went to see the salmon leaping at the weir at Radyr. That in itself was an incredible sight but more so was the cheeky mink who ambled along the wall right in front of me while I was there --- only inches away and in no particular hurry, and totally unphased by my two spaniels.

Signs of autumn

Autumn is well and truly here in the meadow. Most of the yellows and purple swathes have gone, replaced by different hues of browns and reds with a dash of green thrown in. Its colder - there's a distinct nip in the air, even on sunny days. Life (and death) still goes on though and you can still sometimes see the herons striding across the meadow while they stalk any roaming amphibians.

There is bad news though as any thoughts of having a permanent pond have been dashed as its unsafe to dig too far down where the temporary/seasonal pond is now. Sad also as we would've been eligible for grant money to take the project forward. However, we can still look forward to the amphibians that already use the pond along with the dragonflies who dance around this area. From what I gather it would've been a good pond as the water table is quite high here as well, and often only kept back by the rubbish that has accumulated over the years. Temporary/seasonal ponds do have a special place in the biodiversity of an area.