Thursday 22 October 2015

A Stormy Night.

As I started to type this post after writing the heading, it brought to mind a rhyme my father used to say to me all of seventy-five years ago.   I used to pester him to tell me again and again.

It was a dark and stormy night.
The brigands and the chiefs were
assembled in the cave together.
The chief said unto Atonio,

"Tell us  a story!"
And it started like this:

It was a dark and stormy night,
the brigands and the chiefs were.......and so on.

Anyway, enough of that.   It was a stormy night here last night and the wind was up to howling force.

This morning the evidence was everywhere, not least in our farm gateway, where there was a sleeping policeman of pine needles which the farmer had to move before he could get the car out and go to fetch the papers.   Now he is on with the task of sweeping them up.   I have just sneaked out and taken a photograph of him doing just that.
Now, at ten in the morning, the wind has abated to a light breeze and the sky is gradually clearing; the storm clouds floating away out east (watch out for them Thelma) and puffy clouds and blue sky taking their place.

As usual, Autumn (and October in particular) is capricious. 

The farmer has just come in for his lunch and to say that he has just seen his first flock of fieldfares for the Winter - about fifty or so birds here from Scandinavia.   They were settling in to eat the hawthorn berries;  they will demolish the whole crop and then move on to pastures new.   Such a wonderful wild-seeming bird - almost exotic - and always a delight to welcome.

13 comments:

thelma said...

Well we woke up to the wind this morning and the sun trying to get through the clouds. The joy of falling leaves ;) I see the farmer is tackling them, we have two huge sycamores on either side of the garden, and no wooden container yet to house the leaves so that they rot down for the garden....

The Weaver of Grass said...

Sycamore leaves rot down well I believe Thelma - unlike beech leaves which take an age.

The Broad said...

It has been blowing and howling here all night and all day. Best to stay in a catch up with blogging and bloggers.

Heather said...

I can't say we had a howling gale but all my lovely cosmos are now leaning at a dangerous angle. I suppose I could stake them so that they continue to flower (there are still dozens of buds) and provide food for the bees. With all the dry weather there are plenty of crisp fallen leaves to scuffle through. I do like your father's rhyme.

angryparsnip said...

I do not know what a fieldfares are but you mention them often
so I will go look them up right now.

cheers, parsnip

Gwil W said...

I couldn't help thinking about your farmer earlier today when I read an R S Thomas poem 'Cynddylan on a Tractor' which I came across for the first time in the anthology 'The Thunder Mutters' (101 Poems for the Planet) edited by Alice Oswald.

Sheila said...

I did just look up fieldfares on Wikipedia. Such a lovely bird indeed. I hope they
eat at your feeder. Wikipedia mentioned that while many flocks overwinter in the
U.K., others continue on to the Continent. Then in the Spring the U.K. birds await
the arrival of those from the Continent so they can all travel north together.
Birds are so interesting.





Cro Magnon said...

I saw one fieldfare here two days ago; quite rare for us, I wonder if he/she got lost?

Anonymous said...

Have been looking out for redwing and fieldfare here for the past fortnight but nothing yet so am pleased you've got them with you.

SandyExpat said...

I didn't know that speed bumps were referred to as 'sleeping policeman'in the U.K. - your blog is to much fun to read. Very mild here in mid America. The leaves are slowly falling and changing colours. No frost thus far. We really need rain and may get a few showers today.

Hildred said...

Sleeping plicemen, - what a good description! Nice post, Pat. Good picture of the farmer and I love your father's rhyme!

The Weaver of Grass said...

Thanks for calling in everyone. Glad you like my father's rhyme. No idea where it comes from - shall look on Google now.

Bovey Belle said...

I suppose that storm might be the first of many Yorkshire "blows". Our Ash trees have dropped their leaves now, and are partly swept up in the yard, but the brown keys still threaten!

We only get the Redwings and Fieldfares deep in winter, when the food supplies are short elsewhere. When it's very cold everywhere, they will even venture into the garden to see what they can scrounge. It's always good to see them.