Looking out of the window today the scene is decidedly autumnal, the bright sunlight catching the now glowing colours of the trees in the top plantation. We have been enjoying the fruits of autumn already in the shape of the lovely apples from the new orchard. We planted the apple trees about five years ago and this is the first time we have had a good crop, but we havent been the only ones to enjoy them as any that fall have been quickly nibbled by field voles. They seemed to be enjoying the now long grass in the new orchard and have made a lot of tiny runs underneath it. Its a hard life being a vole, youre on everybodys menu! A great many animals depend on voles for a large part of their diet, a crash in their population can have knock-on effects with many creatures. Foxes spend many hours snuffling about in the grass looking for voles, while the patient tawny owl just sits on a branch and waits for one to pass by before silently swooping down to grab it. The best way to tell voles from mice is by their much shorter tail and very small ears. They are also dumpier and not as fast moving. Their cousins, the bank voles, look very similar but are more chestnut in colour. I dont mind sharing a little bit of apple with these tiny creatures that feed so many.
Voles havent been the only ones to enjoy the apples lately, as both red admirals and speckled woods have been enjoying the rotting apples that fall from the old Bramleys. We did not seem to see many butterflies in the garden this year and its been lovely to see a few in these last few sunny days, even my cabbages have been largely ignored by the cabbage whites, which makes a nice change, but we dont seem to have had half as many peacocks and commas as usual on our buddleia bushes. The red admirals that we see at this time of the year will mostly have been born in this country, but most of the early ones will have made the long journey up from the Mediterranean where they hibernate for winter. It always seems incredible to me that such fragile creatures can make such long journeys, but they even manage to get as far as the Shetland Isles. Its rather sad to think that these will mostly die over the winter. The one bright spot on the butterfly front was a marbled white which fluttered about in the goat run for a couple of days. They are fairly common in the west country but this is about as far east as they usually come. They need long tussocky grass, like cox foot, to lay their eggs on and there is just not enough of that around these parts, but we have quite a lot so I am hopeful that one year we might get a pair and some eggs. Wendy Bathurst