A COUNTRYMAN'S NOTEBOOK

September, 1968, will not easily be forgotten by people of this part of Kent. That week-end of 14th/15th! In those two days six inches of rain fell in the Maidstone area and there was a freak whirlwind near Hoo. Besides the frequent rain and some gale force winds (which jeopardised the laden pear-trees) there have of course been some of those warm autumn days that we all love. These enticed out several varieties of butterfly, and good specmens, too - Painted Ladies and Red Admirals on the ivy flower near the Vicarage gates, and often tortoise-shells by the churchyard arch.

But predominantly, as I have walked up The Street, the impression has been one of "conker" hunters and house martins on the telephone wires, with very few leaves beginning to turn. Like the plentiful black-berries they need a little more sun and a little less rain. This is the month, too, when the blackbirds seem to show complete lack of sense: there they are, decimating our crop of hawthorn berries, when there are heaps of other food about, including innumerable windfalls of pear and apple. Of far greater interest, though, was the possible sighting of a buzzard over the Spade Lane smallholdings - a rarity in Kent these days. As contrast I have to report that my Jack Russell has twice flushed a weasel in the Vicarage garden. The first time it escaped by climbing a holly tree and the second time it was cornered behind a drain-pipe but defending itself bravely.

J.H.G.-W.G.

(Mr. Buck will resume his articles next month. He wishes it to be known that he would very much like to be informed of anything of special interest observed in the world of nature. Please ring him at Newington 205. - Editor)