a walk round the corner - August, September, October

the first field - August
© Teresa Newham

Regular readers of this blog might recall that there's country lane running close to my house - we've walked it many times but always on our way to somewhere else.  Eventually we realised that the dog walkers, joggers, cyclists and horse riders that use the lane must be doing something a little more enterprising than just going up and down it: which is when we discovered that if you cross the railway bridge there's  a bridleway along the edge of the first field you come to . . .

the last poppy of summer
© Teresa Newham

On that first walk the field was full of the last of what looked like beans - the weather was warm and dry and the day very drowsy.  The odd poppy brightened the fading crop, the hedgerows were high and it was difficult to believe that we'd just crossed the railway line!

high hedges and the old oak tree
© Teresa Newham

Leaving the first field we walked down another lane, and passed a field of wheat basking in the sun.  By this time we were completely hooked on the countryside which we'd found almost literally round the corner from where we lived, and decided to make the walk a regular one.

the second field - August
© Teresa Newham

I had my camera with me and took all sorts of photos: close-ups of insects and flowers, views of the fields and the trees  (some of the ladybird photos I took made it into the Open Studios exhibition);  it occurred to me that I could make a photo diary and publish it here every few months, to compare the changing seasons as they happened.

the first field - September
© Teresa Newham

To our delight, when we set off on our September walk, they were ploughing the first field.  The weather could not have been more different - it had rained all morning and was threatening to do so again.  The poppies had gone, of course, but the hedgerows were now full of berries:

berries - September
© Teresa Newham

Where everything had been cut back there was a real sense of the season starting to turn;  Autumn was well on the way, you could feel it in the air and see the evidence all around.

the old oak and the ploughed field
© Teresa Newham

The crop in the second field had also been harvested - it all looked rather neat and tidy compared with the straggly hedgerows.

the second field - September
© Teresa Newham

 Last weekend we did the October walk in gorgeous sunshine - a variety of dog walkers and horse riders were - like us - out taking advantage of the unseasonably warm weather:

the first field - October
© Teresa Newham

The hedgerows had died back even further, but were still full of all sorts of berries.  Just walking two fields was like being in Nature's larder:

berries - October
© Teresa Newham

The leaves are still on the trees but some are starting to turn.  Of course, if the weather turns stormy the trees could all be bare by the time we do our November walk!

the oak tree - October
© Teresa Newham

Nature appears to be reclaiming the two fields, and I'll be interested to see what happens to them over the coming months.  I reckon we'll need wellies for the next one . . .

the second field - October
© Teresa Newham