Autumn colour

Glorious autumn colour

There are some lovely autumn colours around at the moment. These trees outside our local supermarket are looking really lovely. [Tweet this]

The weather has been very mild, much warmer than we expect in mid to late October, and the colours develop best when it's not too cold.

But this is nothing compared to some of the photos out there. Try this Google search to bring up some really glorious photos!

There's also a good Wikipedia article with more information on autumn colour for anyone interested.

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Three mice in one trap

Here's how to catch mice without harming them.

Three mice

We'd heard scrabbling noises above the ceiling boards and suspected mice. I bought two commercial traps, the humane kind that catch the mouse unharmed and allow you to release it into the wild. The result? The bait was taken and the traps were sprung, but the mouse was nowhere to be seen.

So I tried another way and it worked. I caught three mice on the first attempt.

Buy a cheap, plastic bin. A tall bucket would do, but bear in mind mice can jump more than 30 cm. The bin must have smooth sides that are close to vertical so the mouse can't climb out. Put some food in the bottom of the bin - cheese, chocolate, dried fruit, nuts are good choices.

Stand the bin in the area where the mouse has been active and place boxes, pieces of timber, stones, or a rolled up decorating sheet against the outside of the bin. This will make it easy for a mouse to reach the top of the bin.

A hungry mouse will smell the food in the bin and will jump inside to reach it. But it won't be able to climb back out. Mice are nocturnal so check the bin every morning.

I caught three mice and released them in the garden, far enough from the house that they should not find their way back.

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Flowers in the autumn

Summer flowers cling on

Summer is over and autumn is well under way. But summer is reluctant to give up altogether.

This photo shows bedding plants in the centre of St Neots, right by the river. They're still in full bloom, looking great and promising to continue until the frost gets them, perhaps in November.

It seems the plants are reluctant to give in to shorter days and long, cold nights.

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An odd angle on rocks

The beach at Clevedon

These rocks on the beach at Clevedon were laid down hundreds of millions of years ago.

There's an old fault line just a few yards away, a discontinuity where the rocks lie at a different angle. And the rocks in the photo are tilted, you can see the layers clearly.

These layers are accumulations of mud and silt in a shallow sea, turned into relatively hard rock by heat and pressure and long millenia.

It seems extraordinary that sediment can be squished like this, and that rock layers can be upended and tilted. Nonetheless that is what happens given enough time in the churning interior of the Earth over long periods of time.

The recent earthquake in Pakistan created an island. The seabed shifted enough to raise what used to be beneath the sea so that now it's above the waterline. No doubt it may have been slightly tilted as well. Over time a series of such movements can build up significant changes of angle.

What an amazing world we live in!

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Decorated biscuits

Decorated biscuits

Young children love decorating biscuits, and this example is from my granddaughter's 5th birthday party. I'm not sure how appetising you find them, but they are certainly colourful!

Every child took to the task in a different way. Some were slow and careful, some enthusiastic and highly productive (can I decorate another one, please). Even at age five, personalities are well developed and very varied. And they all come out in biscuit decorating.

If you have a young child and haven't tried this, it's easy to set up. Buy a pack of plain biscuits along with paper plates, a set of tubes of pre-made coloured icing, a large tube of white icing, and a selection of sprinkles, sugar letters and numbers, and small sweets. Here is what you do...

1. Place the ingredients and the plates on a well-protected or wipe-clean table.
2. Make sure the table is standing on a well-protected or wipe-clean floor.
3. Release the children.
4. Stand well clear.
5. Clean up (children, table and floor).

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A Peacock

A Peacock butterfly

No, this is not a Peacock bird, it's a Peacock butterfly, a species native to the UK. I spotted it recently feeding on nectar from fragrant flowers in a garden in Fife, Scotland.

It was interesting to see a Peacock so far north. The butterfly gets its name from the eye-spots, similar to those on the tail of the bird. The butterfly probably has these spots because they increase the survival rate of the adults by scaring away predators or making them think this is an animal altogether too large to eat.

Maybe a predator would even think there are two animals as the Peacock has four 'eyes'!

Butterflies have been in very short supply this summer because of the wet summer last year. But numbers are increasing in this year's dry and warm weather. Good for the butterflies.

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A plant to remember by

Prunella grandiflora

I bought this plant at Cragside, a large house in Northumberland once the home of a famous engineer, Lord Armstrong.

We spent a while at Cragside on 17th August as we drove back south after a week in Fife with my daughters and their families.

Prunella grandiflora (Large Self-heal) likes moist conditions in partial shade and I've planted it next to our summerhouse where it will only receive late evening sunshine.

This one is a white-flowered cultivar and should be popular with bumblebees. I'm looking forward to seeing how well it grows.

It's good to collect plants from places I've been. The Self-heal will remind me of two visits to Cragside, one just recently and the first back in the mid 1980s.

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