Another Indian Summer

Very much like last year, we are enjoying a lovely Autumn in Milngavie - better than the Summer I think. Two months from the shortest day, four days from the end of daylight savings and the move to Greenwich Mean Time and red admirals, bumble bees and other bees can still be seen feeding on phlox, asters, daisies, sedums, sunflowers, and cornflowers, despite having had our first frost of the year yesterday. The autumnal colour of the foliage in Mugdock Country Park is starting to develop and the woods and hedgerows are rich with elderberries and haws and still a few brambles remain. In our garden, I have a few projects on the go at the moment - a rustic deer fence at the back of the garden to keep the deer from coming in off the golf course (its nice to have nature in the garden but the deer have decimated all the vegetables, as well as all the new willow trees and honeysuckle plants), a double compost bin to assist our worm farm, and turn all our garden and kitchen waste into nutritious compost, and a stone path to enable us to get round the garden without treading on and compacting the soil, and as usual with these things a little scope creep - rebuild the raised beds I made earlier this year as the deer fence now stops access from both sides so they will need to be narrower. And lastly, my two most recent nature encounter highlights: lifting a common frog off a busy path in the Blane Valley onto the grass verge to prevent it getting accidentally stood on by West Highland Wayers and other walkers, runners and cyclists, and moving a very sorry bedraggled looking bumble bee off a shady aster flower onto a sunny sunflower to help it dry out and warm up.