Summer clinging on

It was no doubt a beautiful early morning, following a cold clear night. However, the desperate desire for a lie-in, and a rugby world cup semi-final to watch, prevented me from virtuously enjoying it. Nonetheless, when I finally did surface, it was gorgeous: warm and bright, but lacking the summer's humidity. Although the leaves on my lawn  proclaim it really is autumn, today we were back to summer, and there were still some summer creatures on view. I found a few dragonflies, including this ruddy darter at Scouts' Pond, and plenty of mosquitoes found me.

On School Common there was the usual crop of puffballs, but this year even better than last.

No doubt we are in the middle of the autumn influx of finches and thrushes, but I wasn't able to find any concrete evidence of them. There was a flock of finches making quite a racket in the trees near the main car park for the common, but try as I might I couldn't see a single bird - most frustrating! I wondered if I might find a redwing, but neither sight nor sound came my way.

Meanwhile, back at the Beck, the bright sun filtering through the becoming-brittle leaves and lighting up the stream seemed worth a snap.