IT'S possible to feel cheated by I spring. It's supposed to be when everything begins again; there are lambs in the fields, snowdrops in the woods and goslings are marched up and down the riverbank by their dutiful parents. However, it isn't a time of abundance in the way that autumn is. In late September, everything comes to a rich culmination: the last of the grain is brought in, salmon run up the rivers to spawn, squirrels scamper madly around London parks and busily bury nuts. For many, the pleasurable business of pickling begins. All creatures great and small know that the weather is on the turn and we've got to make the most of Nature's bounty.
And then comes that late-autumn calm. Everything is done and a pall of tranquillity is cast over Britain in a way that doesn't happen at any other time of year. All of a sudden, holidaymakers empty out of the country's most beautiful places and are replaced by wintering birds. Great flocks of pink-footed geese, several thousand strong, fly down the eastern seaboard, where they will spend our coldest months feeding on sugar-beet tops and stubble fields by day before drifting out onto the mud when evening comes. Denys Watkins-Pitchford ('BB'), the great wildfowler and author, called pink-footed geese the 'hounds of heaven'. I witnessed a conversation the other day between two contemporary nature writers about whether, if BB was alive today, he would have been keen on shooting. These sorts of propositions can be irritating-it's as if sensitive modern authors wish to erase parts of writers of old and then claim the etiolated version for themselves. I suspect BB would still love wildfowling if he were around now.
Denne historien er fra November 01, 2023-utgaven av Country Life UK.
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Denne historien er fra November 01, 2023-utgaven av Country Life UK.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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Kitchen garden cook - Apples
'Sweet and crisp, apples are the epitome of autumn flavour'
The original Mr Rochester
Three classic houses in North Yorkshire have come to the market; the owner of one inspired Charlotte Brontë to write Jane Eyre
Get it write
Desks, once akin to instruments of torture for scribes, have become cherished repositories of memories and secrets. Matthew Dennison charts their evolution
'Sloes hath ben my food'
A possible paint for the Picts and a definite culprit in tea fraud, the cheek-suckingly sour sloe's spiritual home is indisputably in gin, says John Wright
Souvenirs of greatness
FOR many years, some large boxes have been stored and forgotten in the dark recesses of the garage. Unpacked last week, the contents turned out to be pots: some, perhaps, nearing a century old—dense terracotta, of interesting provenance.
Plants for plants' sake
The garden at Hergest Croft, Herefordshire The home of Edward Banks The Banks family is synonymous with an extraordinary collection of trees and shrubs, many of which are presents from distinguished friends, garnered over two centuries. Be prepared to be amazed, says Charles Quest-Ritson
Capturing the castle
Seventy years after Christian Dior’s last fashion show in Scotland, the brand returned under creative director Maria Grazia Chiuri for a celebratory event honouring local craftsmanship, the beauty of the land and the Auld Alliance, explains Kim Parker
Nature's own cathedral
Our tallest native tree 'most lovely of all', the stately beech creates a shaded environment that few plants can survive. John Lewis-Stempel ventures into the enchanted woods
All that money could buy
A new book explores the lost riches of London's grand houses. Its author, Steven Brindle, looks at the residences of plutocrats built by the nouveaux riches of the late-Victorian and Edwardian ages
In with the old
Diamonds are meant to sparkle in candlelight, but many now gather dust in jewellery boxes. To wear them today, we may need to reimagine them, as Hetty Lintell discovers with her grandmother's jewellery
