Little Cotton Rabbits

Autumny things :: out & about

 

 

The woods in Autumn are one of my most favourite places to be. It's such a sensory experience - a wonderful rich smell of damp earth; a rustling sigh as hundreds of leaves part company with the trees at the slightest breeze and a sparkling quality to the light as the low-angled sunlight is shimmered through all of the leaves still clinging fast. There are good things to eat too. I'm not confident enough to gather mushrooms but a handful of sweet chestnuts or blackberries instantly evokes childhood memories of autumn Sunday afternoons spent foraging in the woods with my Mum, Dad and brother. I do love being out in the woods on a bright autumn day.

Sadly though Toby seems to have gone off wood walks at the moment. He's been getting rather agitated when I've shown him the PECs card for the woods and biting his hand a lot (you can see it's badly calloused in the picture below). I did manage to coax him out with custard cream biscuits for one rather short stroll over this half term break but he was keen to get back to the car.

Amy walked with me on wednesday afternoon, both of us with our cameras in hand as she's preparing her coursework for her photography GCSE. We took a lot of pictures because there's lots going on in the autumn woods. We saw mini beasts; snails, butterflies and beetles, tiny fairy-tale porcelain fungus and toadstools and out on an open stretch a muntjac deer was crossing an autumn-sown field and stopping every now and then for a quick nibble of the fresh, green shoots. There was a fair bit of good-natured elbow barging between us over the best position to photograph from and lots of her shots came out better than mine. It was a memorable afternoon out with my lovely girl.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Back at home the late afternoon skies have been crossed with migrating flocks of birds. I love watching them heading south to keep ahead of the colder weather and wonder how far they are journeying.

 

 

 

Autumn is in full flow here and I hope to make it out to the woods lots more before the leaves are all on the ground. Hopefully I'll be able to keep tempting Toby to come out with me and he'll re-discover his woodland mojo.

 

Pictures taken at:

Amwell nature reserve, Hollywell Lake with the dragonfly meadows and Amwell walkway, September 26th

Bencroft wood, Hertfordshire, October 26th

Panshanger Park and Osprey lake, October 28th

 

Autumny things :: garden

 

 

 

'Ode to Autumn' by Keats sums up the arrival of Autumn here...

Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness, Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;

Conspiring with him how to load and bless, With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eves run;

To bend with apples the moss'd cottage-trees, And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core;

To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells, With a sweet kernel; to set budding more,

And still more, later flowers for the bees,

Until they think warm days will never cease,

For Summer has o'er-brimm'd their clammy cells...

 

It's all mellow fruitfulness here and my gourds have swelled nicely ;)  as you can see above. Although I don't think they are actually as big as the ones I grew last year. Every year I vow to nurture the plants with regular watering and plant feed but my good intentions slip as the weeks fly past. Next year I'll strive to be a better gardener.

The carrots have done quite well though and we've been enjoying them mixed with herbs and shop-bought sweet potatoes, fennel, onions and parsnips and roasted in the oven.

 

 

We've also had some wonderful cooking apples thanks to having generous and kind neighbours with very productive Bramley trees and so we've been enjoying a lot of apple cake, apple crumble and my current favourite 'apple brown betty' made with left-over homemade bread, butter and brown sugar.

The chickens are laying well and being rewarded with regular jaunts in the garden for a spot of free-range foraging.

 

 

 

Though I've not told them of the recent visitor that has been coming regularly to our front garden, as I think they'd be alarmed!

 

 

 

 

Seeing this beautiful fox has delighted me though. Last week I was really lucky to have a great view and took these pictures through my bedroom window just after dawn. I watched him for 20 minutes or so as he rooted round in the ruins of our front garden - we've had a lot of leylandii conifers taken out as they'd got too big and scraggy so the front garden is a complete mess at the moment but it is obviously the perfect playground for a curious and bold fox. I'd dumped the contents of the compost bin out there ready to be dug in and he was enjoying picking through and finding the egg shells. He didn't even budge when a car drove by, just pricked up his ears and bristled with caution, ready to run should the need arise. I hope he sticks around because he's a very handsome chap and is wonderful to watch but I also hope that the run keeps my fluffy ladies safe from becoming his dinner!

That's all my news from the garden but I'll pop back soon, hope you have a good week.

 

 

 

new homes

 

 

 

Thanks so much to everyone who took the time to enter my giveaway. It's been lovely reading all of the comments and the fact that so many of us get such great pleasure from the small things in life and the presence of those we love and treasure strikes me as a very special thing.

The winners from the draw have been notified and have selected their prizes (you can see their comments and winning numbers at the end of the post about the draw). Catherine has chosen Saffron and Denise is having Candice. Here they are getting packed up and ready to travel.

 

 

 

 

It's interesting that both winners have chosen cats. This is the first time that I've made cats so it's nice to know they are a welcome addition to the little cotton rabbit clan. I have a few more cats along with a mouse, a trio of foxes and a bevy of bunnies which I'm going to list for sale as soon as possible. I'm just sewing on the last buttons and writing out their descriptions ready for making labels for them. I hope to have them ready for new homes in the next few days. You can see all 20 of them in detail (minus Saffron and Candice of course who will shortly be on their respective ways to New Zealand and the USA) over on my flickr photo stream or follow the links below.

I'll email the mailing list once they're ready and update facebook once they are listed for sale.

 

 

1. cinnamon, 2. coco, 3. pepper, 4. maemi, 5. aisling, 6. hudson, 7. bowie, 8. marmalade, 9. marmaduke, 10. rosalba, 11. mairi, 12. wyeth, 13. bennett, 14. fantine, 15. calico, 16. tabitha, 17. lucia, 18. finnea, 19. felipe, 20. jack

 

Autumn has definitely arrived here and I'm enjoying the feel of it. Will pop back soon with some pictures from the last few autumny weeks,

see you then x