A Chill September Walk

On a day when the still-air temperature of 14C felt more like ten in the easterly breeze the only butterfly spotted on the wing during today's walk was this red admiral. It was intent on feeding, but not on the coppery-coloured dead-heads of the bog asphodel which was crowding a small pond in the marshland above the plantations. No - the flower whose nectar-rich blooms it preferred above those of several other wildflowers, including the three heathers, a flower which is hidden under its extended wings, was devil's-bit scabious.

Back in the forestry the rowans show signs of having failed to agree on how harsh a winter we are to expect: some were loaded with berries, others had hardly any.