Today is all about fruits and flowers. We have passed mid-summer’s day and seem to be preparing for autumn – without, perhaps, having enjoyed the long hot days of summer themselves.

Walking today I have found cherries, blackberries, apples and elder berries setting, along with seeds of sycamore and lime:

Looking around my garden, I had been inclined to say that not many plants were flowering: but when I really went looking that was clearly not true.

I have looked at everything – birds, animals, insects, plants – so much more clearly over the past 30 days. I hope I will be able to keep looking at them in that way once June is over!

Another of those days when I fall back on the station platforms as a source of wildness whilst travelling to and fro.

And here we have (for the second time this month, but in a different location) a lavender beetle:

Actually, there are several beetles on this clump of lavender but only one was prepared to stay still and be photographed.

And if you’d like a little more detail, here is one (or, rather, two, if we’re talking beetles) I posted earlier – on Day 19, to be precise:

 

It’s really all about the frogs!

Having heard, I thought, a frog jumping into the water when I was tackling the pond, today I have hard evidence that they are back:

And not just one, but two:

They’re quite different, and one is much larger than the other.

Now I know this will sound ridiculous, but the presence or otherwise of frogs in my little plastic pond has always been a touchstone for me as to whether or not my garden was working as a wildlife friendly environment.  I have been sad not to have seen them for a while. And today is therefore a very good day.

No photographs today. Most of the day spent travelling and in meetings, but then home to the garden.

Took more of the silt and leaves out of the bottom of the pond and tried to redefine the edge of the garden and the wild areas. And I think I heard the ‘plop’ of a small frog jumping back into the water. So, if I can improve the quality of the environment, and replant, I just might get them back again. In the meantime, the robins enjoyed the worms and small insects that were uncovered as I worked. Until the cat came out to sit by me, at which point the warning calls started ringing around the garden.

Tomorrow is another day, with more time to stand and stare.

A day unplugged from all electronic devices today.

So we set off for Windsor and Dogfest. A day of warmth and friendship with thousands of others and their dogs.

And a walk  along a grassy path, with other dogs, all on leads, through the Great Park, admiring the open spaces, the ancient trees and a herd of deer running across the path in front of us, calling to one another.

 

We had a very quiet day today, trying to catch up after a couple of rather sleepless nights!

But we decided to have a stroll before brunch.  Rosie met lots of other dogs and David and I reflected, yet again, on what a really lovely place this is to live. Paths through the trees wherever we look.

 

Just a brief moment of wildness: and, yet again, courtesy of the gardening volunteers at our local station.

More than one journey, so more than one platform, and both ponds!

The shots in the top row are from the, netting protected, pond on the ‘down’ platform and the other two from the usual ‘up’ platform.

I’m used to commuting and commuter trains, but this month has made me even more appreciative of the work that goes into making our local station a real wildlife hot spot.

 

Last night it rained and rained and rained – along with thunder and lightning. The impact of the volume of water on the physical environment has been significant: locally, we have debris in the roads and parts of the road surface itself damaged:

So I decided to reflect on water today: managed and playful on the South Bank

and racing along channels that are normally much quieter, and where I first spotted the little egret and the ducklings, at home (compare with Day 3 and Day 9, part 2):

And reflecting images with often astonishing clarity – these are, again, from the South Bank:

We are used to water in the suburbs – and complain during hotter periods when our gardens wilt for lack of it -but over the past few weeks it has been easy only to grumble about the inconvenience it can cause. Today I enjoyed looking for the upsides of unexpected images and reflections.

Not a very wild day today, but it started well, watching the Mullein Moth caterpillar munching its way through the leaves of my brother’s plants:

The flowers are nevertheless really lovely:

In the afternoon I saw grass and deckchairs on the roof of the Ashmolean (and spotted a tree growing somewhere it shouldn’t in a neighbouring building!), explored the green heart of Wellington Square and enjoyed a gathering in a typical Oxford College quadrangle.

But the latter part of the evening was all about the weather. As we drove back to London we saw lightning over the city and the rain began in earnest.

So tomorrow’s blog is going to be all about water!