On the trail of summer

Autumn has snuck up on us again. Hope everybody enjoyed their summer. There was a summer there wasn't there? Glimpses. If summer could be compared to a movie, I would say we only got to see the trailer before the projector broke. Did the butterflies enjoy it? Debbie seems to think so. She enjoyed capturing some images of the little flutterers on her flowers. The garden did a fair job this year of attracting both insects and birds.
October also means the start of the dreaded Badminton season. Much rushing about and bolting of meals will occur and Harry will lie in wait for big hugs twice a day, instead of just the one big teatime collision of clumsy legs and whirring tail. Debbie will have to catch up on her Gardener's World on iplayer. At least it keeps her fit.
Autumnwatch is back again. Surely Springwatch was only on last week. New format. Weekly episodes. Hmmm. I'm not a big fan of Chris Packham. He's ok in small doses and he knows his stuff but he tends to set me slightly on edge and I can feel my irritation levels creeping up inexorably every moment he is on screen. Not too relaxing a chap. The sad thing is he seems to know he is irritating and plays up to it. And where have the nature reserves gone? I know it is pitch black at 9:00pm but surely they could have done better than a Bristol office car park, lunchbreak bench and the little broom cupboard studio for the dynamic duo to do their blurbs from. On the positive side the films were improved on recent years and we had no repeats of last year's Simon King filming sea-weed sessions. Highlights for me were the red deer on Rum with Percy, the shrew and the brilliant Knapdale beavers.