Beech Tree, Lake District, photographed by Gill Henwood
My friend Gill has sent me this wonderfully autumnal photo and poem.
Beech in Autumn
Fallen beech leaves, copper shining with rain, carpeting the grey slate with burnished glow of the changing season
As the tree sheds her leaves after another year, her bare skeleton speaks of hope and renewal: that one day, after the cold frosts, bitter winds and ice, warmth and buds of growth will come again, anew, afresh.
She is over a century old. She bears witness this Samhain, All Hallows, All Saints, Remembering.
Photo by Gill Henwood of Hawthorn bush on Lindisfarne.
My friend, Gill Henwood, has sent me photos of a Hawthorn bush on the Holy Island of Lindisfarne, in all its autumn finery. It is too delicious not to share it.
The Woodland Trust says that the Hawthorn has great value to wildlife. “Common hawthorn can support hundreds of other species. It is the foodplant for caterpillars of moths, including the hawthorn, orchard ermine, pear leaf blister, rhomboid tortrix, light emerald, lackey, vapourer, fruitlet-mining tortrix, small eggar and lappet moths. Its flowers are eaten by dormice and provide nectar and pollen for bees and other pollinating insects. The haws are rich in antioxidants and are eaten by migrating birds, such as redwings, fieldfares and thrushes, as well as small mammals. The dense, thorny foliage makes fantastic nesting shelter for many species of bird.”
Autumn dripping leaves of weary gold Exits quietly, fading through the trees. Hawthorn shakes her cloak of ruby fire. Naked to the woods and twisting breeze….. … Winter’s breath now lingers in the air.
Autumn is the season for spiders both inside the house and also in the countryside and garden.
Not everyone is a fan of spiders and there are many species, from tiny mites to large, slightly threatening ones. Only a very few tend to bite human beings. According to the Natural History Museum, only about 12 species have been recorded as inflicting a bite on humans and of those only three have left an unpleasant or painful sensation. As there are over 650 types of spider the risks are minimal. Mind, if you insist on picking them up they will defend themselves!
The evidence of spiders in our gardens and in the fields can be found on a low misty morning when the ground is strewn with gossamer webs, highlighted by frost. These can be found often in their hundreds. This is the work of one species particularly – the Common sheetweb spider or to give its posh name, Linyphia triangularis. It’s a very common species and its presence easily seen – the name sheetweb – may provide a clue!
This Sunday, many in the UK will be keeping Animal Welfare Sunday. Perhaps we could spare a thought and a prayer for these tiny creatures of God’s creation, often overlooked or avoided. I suspect that he had a lot of fun making them!
My friend, Gill Henwood, has captured this in photos she has taken in the Lake District, so here’s a couple.
Spider Trail. photo by Gill HenwoodGrizedale, webs in the forest.
This is a photo taken by my friend, Gill Henwood, of swallows preparing to leave us for different climes. It is a sure sign that the Season are changing and that Autumn will soon be here. (Though the heatwave in Britain at the moment suggests that there may be a short delay!)
Today I received a letter from another Lakeland friend, Lesley, and she too makes reference to the Swallows. This is what she said:
I have been watching the swallows gathering on the wires that weave this way across gardens and fields. It is interesting to watch the birds jostle to claim and make space on the wires for themselves, some more forcefully than others.
They look so vulnerable. It is hard to imagine the long journey they are preparing to make back to their winter quarters. Soon they’’ll go, flying through difficulties but obviously with an inner certainty about it all. They are held through and beyond the struggles in God’s fantastic plan of Creation.
Even the sparrow find a home and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, at your altars, O Lord of hosts, My King and My God. Happy are those who live in your house, ever singing your praise.
[}Psalm 84 v 3-4[]
Lord, your psalmist sings of the birds, the sparrows and the swallows finding a home and a nest in your presence where you take care of them with tremendous love. They fly now to winter pastures but they trust you on that long journey and they know confidently that you are near them and enfold them in your love.
May we be filled with that same confidence, trust and faith wherever our lives journeys take us. May wefind our home in you, May our song of praise, like the bird song, sound out in joy and thanksgiving.
Mr G's Ponderings 