Country diary: There's something cooking in the woods | Kate Blincoe

Caistor St Edmund, Norfolk: In this moment of great seasonal change, I go looking for butterflies and find a 'feathered' fungusThe swallows lingered into mid?October, the young hanging around in the stables, clumsily practising flight. I began to wonder if they would stay, if the system was somehow broken. Maybe I feel this way because the great oak of our family has fallen. My grandfather has died, just before turning 101, sharp of mind to the end. But order continues and the swallows too have now left, leaving the skies to the skeins of geese.I muck out the stable and fill hay nets before heading out on a walk. The bale I break into has a dark singe mark within, as if a hot saucepan has burned all the way through. It was probably a bit damp when baled, which can cause fermentation and temperatures that can rise to combustion point at over 65C. Sometimes the whole stack might ignite. The hay harvest was poor this year, with low yields bringing scarcity and price rises. Continue reading...