We have been lucky on the allotment to find ourselves with wildlife sightings each year. The grass snake lives close by, though it never ceases to surprise me when I should find myself face to face with the beastie herself (or himself). Sometimes I lift up leaves of rhubarb or squashes to find a snakeskin having been shed which nearly makes me jump out of my skin. Snakes don't scare me, I find them fascinating. Of course just the wild ones.
Anything tropical or huge can frankly keep a good distance away but our native and local grass snake and I are pals. She likes our compost bin. Excellent looking compost if I do say so myself.

What's given you a surprise?

Take care,
Sophie 

Of course, we headed out for a good walk to soak up the sunshine and stretch our legs. The contrast of bold blue skies and autumn landscape was beautiful. Those neat red rosehips look fabulous.



 Monday morning surprised me with a sighting of the muntjac deer (and baby - not in shot) whilst I was out in the garden. I snapped away with my phone and this is the best picture I got in the early morning light.


It didn't end there. We had to pass by a hornet's nest in a hole in a tree. You might be able to see an orangier patch in the middle tree below. Funnily enough, I had NO INTENTION of lingering anywhere near it to risk getting in trouble, so you will have to take my word for it. The hum was fabulous as we passed. No stings for us, but a nasty little boy behind did get stung, which after seeing him larking around with a huge precarious bough minutes beforehand and not being reprimanded by his father I have to say I rather felt nature had restored karma.

Oh, what are these called? I'm sure I stumbled upon them in one of my books but I'll have to look it up again sometime.


Abov, some fungi nestled away.
Below, Bittersweet berries. They look pretty but are poisonous.


The last encounter to tell you of was three beautiful buzzards flying low over our allotment while we worked. They were majestic but sadly no camera. They usually soar high up or antagonise the crows but never come close to us.
Such a brilliant weekend full of wildlife.
Have you had an unexpected close encounter?
Sophie

For the first time in perhaps forever, I felt distinctly redundant at the allotment this weekend. Over spring and summer it's been a hive of activity with so many tasks clamouring for attention. Upon arrival on Saturday I took a lap of the plot to make a mental list of things to do but precious little presented itself. C had procured a (second- but don't get me started) rotivator which took a bit of a faff to get into the car. As designated labourer I knew that my priority was to barrow lots of well rotted manure from the big heap onto our plot, before C would rotivate it in. However, after an initial lap of the empty patch, the machine refused to work again. Cue me struggling to maintain composure when I was feeling incredibly frustrated. So my job was put on hold and instead I resorted to picking big stones out of the beds and filling the centre path.

C spent quite a while tinkering on Saturday evening after a good google and had the rotivator running again by Sunday morning. So back we went and thankfully all went well. C prepared the ground, I layered on the manure and C went back over it to churn it all in. Not only do the two empty patches look neat but also they're already enriching themselves for next year's growing season.

The biggest and most exciting news is that a grass snake (we've called here Sally) has taken up residence in our allotment compost bin. Apparently we came across a snake a few years ago but this memory has all but deserted me. Imagine my surprise when I pulled the lid off, poised to throw in a bucketful of weeds when a basking green snake slithered off down the side of the bin! I shrieked with surprise, then yelled SNAKE! As C would dearly love to see it himself. He missed it but we bided our time and saw it on several other occasions over the two days. I took a few pictures and even a video but from now on we'll give her a little more space and hope that perhaps she stays with us on a permanent basis.






I picked more of the gladioli that have come into flower to add to the few I already had in a vase. The two colours are so pretty and I like how they look together. Also (and daringly) I cut three little sunflower heads off one of the multi stalk plants. I love the simplicity of them, so cheery and bold, but wow they drop an awful lot of pollen! I'm collecting vases,jugs and vessels to display flowers in from charity shops. Next year should be colourful.

Sophie