THE FIRST signs of autumn colour on the leaves are among the most beautiful. These are the vivid, lemon-coloured patches on the lime trees. They have just started appearing, usually on different parts of the tree at some distance from each other. It will be some time before most of the limes’ dark green foliage starts turning.
Where grass is growing tall again after hay cutting, the seeds of the docks and sorrel among the grass give the fields a reddish glow. The sorrel can be picked out by its leaves, which are much narrower than the fat dock leaves.
Red and white clover are both still in flower and attract numerous bees, who can make delicious clover honey. On shorter grass, a common flower now is autumn hawkbit, which is a small dandelion on a wiry stem.
The noisiest birds at present are the collared doves, which are still singing their loud, triple-note song on television aerials. Some of them also still have nests in the bushes with two eggs in them. More robins are singing as they come out of the moult, and occasionally a song from a wren bursts through the undergrowth.
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DJM