12th October, 1999

Following a warm but moist summer, toadstools have begun to appear in good numbers. Most noticeable, at the moment, is a very healthy crop of shaggy ink-caps. Dozens of these toadstools are emerging from short grass near the sports hall. They look quite attractive when they first pop up but soon look a lot less so when their caps begin to curl up and liquefy, dripping a black liquid from their margins. I picked a few ink-caps to paint for this page and found that they liquified very rapidly, within hours, leaving black puddles on the bottom of the box in which I had placed them.

Some trees are now beginning to respond to the approach of winter. Most attractive are some of the horse chestnuts, which have turned a fantastic golden colour, which looks particularly attractive when the sun is very low in the early morning. Some ash trees are shedding leaves but without putting on a show. The oaks look quite green from a distance but the first signs of a colour change can be seen.

Birds are still very quiet and we have now lost many of the summer visitors. The swallows and martins have disappeared and it is about two weeks since I last heard a warbler. The arrival of the winter visitors, especially the redwings and fieldfares, is imminent and is something that I am watching for. Their distinctive calls should be heard again within the next week or two. Next week, there are the annual Founder's Day walks. This is often a time when I see or hear the first fieldfare of the year.