Autumn Days when the Grass is Jewelled

(Excerpt) Autumn brings with it many sensory delights; sounds, tastes and sights unique to the season, yet it does not arrive with a single scent but instead with a layered, shifting perfume that settles into the hedgerows, woodlands, and wet country lanes.

Ring O’ Clogs

What ses Lancasheer to thee,

is it Blackpoo’ by the sea?

Is it wet ond muggy days,

ships on t’Mersey through the aze,

blackpuddings on a plate in’t shops,

is it shawls or whippet dogs,

or is it just the ring o’ clogs.

Laccaria amethystina, Deceptive Jewel of the Autumn Woods

(Excerpt) Laccaria amethystina is ectomycorrhizal, forming symbiotic relationships with the roots of trees. It is most often found with beech, oak and birch, though it also occurs under conifers, and grows in leaf litter and moss in both deciduous and mixed woodland, frequently in scattered groups or small troops.

Ragged Robin

Ragged Robin (Silene flos-cuculi, formerly Lychnis flos-cuculi) is a plant of many names, these include: Cuckoo Flower (because it flowers as the Cuckoo arrives,) Thunder flower (in some parts of Yorkshire picking it will bring thunderstorms) Shaggy Jacks, and Marsh Gillyflower.

Speckled Woods

Speckled Woods are a familiar butterfly to most of us here in Britain yet are often overlooked in favour of flashier species like the Peacock or Red Admiral.

Understated and widespread they may even appear dowdy compared to their lepidopteran cousins yet, as with any wild creature, patient observation reveals them to possess more beauty and character than you would ever suspect.

The Moorland Breeze, by Edwin Waugh

OF all the blithesome melody
    that wakes the warm heart’s thrill,
give me the wind that whistles free
    across the moorland hill;
When every blade upon the lea
    is dancing with delight,
and every bush and flower and tree
    is singing in its flight.