The birds tend to flock round the nearby tower and many of them nest in the crannies and even inside. Here is a lone occupant returning back home.

The horses have been in the paddock for a few weeks now. Flash is obviously planning to go out partying as he has donned an earring especially for the occasion.

There have been some beautiful autumnal mornings this week – differing from their summer counterparts in the crisper feel to the mornings as the sun delivers less heat  early in the day. Here’s a shot of the horses enjoying the sunshine, stepping just outside the shadow of the house to feel the sun on their backs.

However the grass is beginning to run low in the paddock and a small deputation makes the point that it is time to move back down the road to more grass – which was duly noted at the end of the week.

The saddest time of the year for me is when we have to start closing the garden down for the late autumn and winter months. The “eastern” patio does not get a huge amount of sun now so the table and chairs have been stowed for the time being

There are still some lovely surprises left. These Guernsey Lilies are, I believe, biennials as I don’t recall seeing them last year – but here they are providing a late season burst of colour to the border.

The field in the farm continues to grow apace – glad my lawn doesn’t grow this fast! The clouds above show some of the changeable weather we have had of late as Autumn bears down on us.

There has still been plenty of sunshine however which is good news for those of us with solar panels – the offset of what is generated during the spring and summer makes the net electricity bill a lot cheaper. This is the side of the house with six panels on and there are another six on the flat roof facing south behind the house.

Rubbish, both garden and household, tends to pile up and it is about 6 miles to the local tip. Coupling that with occasional clear out of whatever has found its way into the shed means that every now and then it is almost cost effective (and certainly time effective) to get a skip in. It took myself and the head gardener a whole day to fill this up. No mean feat given that the skip has to be left at the end of the driveway because the lorry would never make it up to the house.

The most regular activity seems to be poo-picking by someone or other. We’ve touched on this before but here is a family effort by mother and daughter.

And, after all that hard work, it’s time to relax and catch some bubbles. It is not only the lane that changes over the year – Willow has gone from baby to all-grown-up toddler!

The late summer sunshine is there to be enjoyed by all – and if you can make it even more cosy by creating your very own summer house – what’s not to love?  Spooner is in cat heaven.

We’ve seen a number of the lane’s creatures but here is one we haven’t had before – this slug caught my attention as, although it’s not so obvious here, he must have been well over 6 inches long as he made his way along the path.

The farm field has, as regular followers will know, been ploughed, rolled, seeded and fertilised and now the grass is starting to come through remarkably quickly. Here it is at the start of the week:

 And here… just 3 days later!

The horses are still down the lane but should be back in the paddock shortly for another stay. Flash is either contemplating an escape or whether to have a drink of water – almost certainly the latter as he’s not the escaping type!

I found this fellow sitting on the gravel in the driveway and managed to snap him before he flew off. There are a lot of butterflies around at the moment and this fine looking Red Admiral is one of the prettiest.

Also prevalent of late are the Hawks – not sure if they are Kestrel or Sparrow. This one decided to perch on the nearby electricity pole, on the lookout for potential prey no doubt.

And here he is with his/her mate, swooping gracefully over the nearby fields in search of food.

No more House Martin photos I’m afraid – at some point early in the week they set off back to warmer climes for the winter. Unfortunately I wasn’t here to get a snap as it would have been quite a picture as they tend to fly en-masse.

It has been a bit murky of late with rain in the air but the temperature is still fairly warm. This combination quite often, at this time of year, produces a mist first thing in the morning.

As the sun comes up the mist tends to clear fairly quickly but can still leave an attractive early autumn view down the lane as the mist lingers below the willows, particularly at the bottom of the hill halfway .

The farm field next to the house has now been ploughed and rolled a few times and is completely flat again albeit a little muddy after the recent rain.

Subsequently it is being prepared for regrowth and a tractor covered the land with the first treatment. Unfortunately this is a form of silage which renders, shall we say, a different perfume to the atmosphere for a few hours!

Earlier in the year I showed my outdoor “office” – the gazebo on the decking. Sadly we had some un-seasonally strong winds last month and the gazebo was blown from its “moorings” right across the garden. Although I have managed to re-site it to serve the rest of the summer and autumn it is, as you can see, somewhat bent out of shape. After 6+ years of good service, I think it will have to be retired this year.

Finally another sign of autumn underway as the horse buckets are back out in force as the grass starts to slow in its growth and needs to be supplemented with feed. The stables next door seen here collecting the buckets ready to be replenished from the stores.