Chinese lantern worn to filigreee The gardens at Sizergh Castles are a joy. On our last visit the motif was butterflies, today it's autumn fruit and winter thrush.
Leaves fall from the trees but the early sun vanishes and the light is poor. Flights of redwing overhead, the small and slender thrush with a high-pitched contact call- this morning they are silent. Fieldfare amongst them but they are silent too. The birds alight high in the canopy and it's hard to make out detail. Fieldfare and redwing are shy birds and the last leaves conceal their numbers.
Bunches of purple grapes on the vine against the lichened brick wall. Dahlias and a drift of Spanish daisies.
We come upon a bed of Chinese lanterns and a single fruit within the remnant of its outer casing.
Leaves fall from the trees but the early sun vanishes and the light is poor. Flights of redwing overhead, the small and slender thrush with a high-pitched contact call- this morning they are silent. Fieldfare amongst them but they are silent too. The birds alight high in the canopy and it's hard to make out detail. Fieldfare and redwing are shy birds and the last leaves conceal their numbers.
Bunches of purple grapes on the vine against the lichened brick wall. Dahlias and a drift of Spanish daisies.
We come upon a bed of Chinese lanterns and a single fruit within the remnant of its outer casing.
Years ago, In the Quantocks, we came upon an old orchard where fiedfare and redwing feasted upon fallen fruit. If only I could conjure the birds down from the tree tops into this Sizergh orchard where boughs are laden with apples from ancient trees. Picture redwing, as if stained with juice from crimson apples .
The Sizergh experience is magical- autumn fruit and winter thrush lively amongst the trees. You have to know what you're seeing because they're not close- like that once-upon-a-time orchard in the Quantocks. Flights of winter thrush settle high in the trees, hiding amongst the last autumn leaves in a network of twigs and branches.
On Autumn Watch this week, Chris Packham's eyes lit up as he spoke of all that science has revealed within the last fifteen years, about the relationship between trees and fungi. Science is revelatory, but species loss diminishes our experience in the natural world. I remember an abundance of winter thrush. Now you have to know what you're seeking and to find it you have to work so much harder.
The Sizergh experience is magical- autumn fruit and winter thrush lively amongst the trees. You have to know what you're seeing because they're not close- like that once-upon-a-time orchard in the Quantocks. Flights of winter thrush settle high in the trees, hiding amongst the last autumn leaves in a network of twigs and branches.
On Autumn Watch this week, Chris Packham's eyes lit up as he spoke of all that science has revealed within the last fifteen years, about the relationship between trees and fungi. Science is revelatory, but species loss diminishes our experience in the natural world. I remember an abundance of winter thrush. Now you have to know what you're seeking and to find it you have to work so much harder.
The morning was still and calm, light levels low. Above the canopy, flights of winter thrush in and out of trees, hard to find unless they alight in leafless trees.
Looking over my images of the day I can identify redwing. The bird has a distinctive white supercilium and a paler band beneath the cheek. The light is too poor to see the rusty red which shows on the flank on a brighter day. But one of the birds opens its wings about to take flight and a blurr of rusty red appears.
Looking over my images of the day I can identify redwing. The bird has a distinctive white supercilium and a paler band beneath the cheek. The light is too poor to see the rusty red which shows on the flank on a brighter day. But one of the birds opens its wings about to take flight and a blurr of rusty red appears.
RSS Feed