17 From inside the community Nature Notes I like to be able to distinguish between the seasons. Autumn seemed to arrive a little late this year but its arrival was certainly heralded when I and three friends took a walk around Arger Fen, near Wormingford, in mid-November. As my photo shows it was like walking into a cathedral of autumn colour. Two special highlights occurred during the walk, firstly the sight of a bright yellow brimstone butterfly flitting about in the late sunshine. Apparently late season flights are not uncommon for the brimstone. The next highlight was to see, low and silently gliding, a majestic red kite, turning gracefully at the twitch of its tail. Of course we can find autumn colours in our own gardens. Our hazel hedge, cherry tree and contorted willow have been particularly attractive. The willow leaves are a twisted shape too, long and golden they spiral gently and quietly to the floor. The aftermath of falling leaves is the job of raking them off the lawn. Good exercise and good for the lawn as the raking aerates the grass. Carrying out this job one cold morning, I paused to look at the sun trying to pierce a shroud of misted cloud, a veil was drawn across its warming path. The sky was trying to clear in places but in the far distance there was a long strand of misted horizon. However, this still had its own beauty to my eye, it was certainly a winter sky and that is probably why I was happy to see it, a sign of autumn moving into winter. Looking at the sky can often stop me in my tracks. I recall while walking home, (quickly because of a dark and threatening sky), I spotted in the distance the white, almost silver under-leaves of a white poplar twisting in the breeze, presenting an unbelievably sharp and dancing contrast against the blackening cloud. I felt a spot of rain and walked on only to stop again when three or four white gulls came into contrast against that same blackness.
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