September 2011 part 1

September     "Best I love September's yellow,
                      Morns of dew-strung gossamer,
                      Thoughful days without a stir,
                      Rooky clamours, brazen leaves,
                     Stubble dotted o'er with sheaves -
                     More than Spring's bright uncontrol
,                    Suit the Autumn of my soul."       ...Alex Smith
The first week has been mixed weather wise - some sunny days others mixed with rain. On our first trip to the local nature reserve we see a rise in the number of swans on the lake, a large number of geese, starlings and various gulls, lapwings and a group of 7 young heron's on one of the islands and others on the far side of the lake.

A group of herons is called a "scattering, a siege or a sedge."
Something scares the flock and they rise to the air as one but still within their own distinctive groups proving I suppose that "birds of a feather flock together".
We also saw lots of common darter dragonflies.

 Common Darter (sympetrum strolatum)
middle sized and restless regularly perching on bank side vegetation or on plain ground to gain warmth.
We also see this grasshopper but I'm having trouble identifying it.

 Later a walk along the river shows a huge growth in the Himalayan balsam, a small fire has taken down some of the grass but it is already starting to regrow. A pigeon flies over and apart from a pair of speckled wood butterflies there is little else.