Autumn leaves

I don’t get the opportunity to get out very often at the weekends. When my husband is at work, we get up at 5.30 in the morning. On Saturday, Sunday and holidays, we get a lie in until 6.30. Naturally, all our animals are watered, fed and cleaned twice a day, but at the weekends we do extra chores, like taking the ferrets’ room apart, steam cleaning the litter trays, mucking the field shelter out completely, hosing down the yard and moving the chicken run. Then there are the treatments, cats on pills and lotions, flea treatments, wormers, claw and hoof trimming and once in a while I even have to cut back some of the goats’ horns if they are threatening to grow into their heads. (The boys came already disbudded, but in three out of four it didn’t work and the horns are now growing in all directions). We usually don’t finish the “morning” round until well past midday and there have been times when we stop briefly for a drink and simply carry on through the afternoon. Did I mention we never break for lunch?

The stunning colours of autumn had been calling me though. I had been too ill to get out and photograph them the previous two years and somehow recent weeks had slipped by and it looked as though I was going to miss this year as well. At the last minute, I charged up my batteries and drove to a local reserve on Saturday afternoon. The aim was to photograph the kingfisher, but I thought if I saw any stunning views, I could take them on my way there.

Of course, it’s never easy to drive while looking out for photo opportunities and many whizzed past before I had the chance to stop. Before too long I pulled up outside the reserve, but although I spotted the kingfisher several times, he stayed over the far side of the lake, too far for even my little Powershot.

It wasn’t too far for the fallen oak leaves drifting past the hide though and in no time I had forgotten I was supposed to be bird watching. The colours on the water were reflecting the trees opposite the hide and I was amazed at the variety of patterns. I may not have photographed a sweeping landscape, but for once I think I managed to capture at least the essence of autumn.