Summer speeds by.Blink and we may miss the rest of it.Weathermen predict an early autumn and already crispy brown leaves are falling and grasses readily seeding.

Horse chestnuts have suffered their usual unsightly attack of leaf-miner moth but the problem has been around for about ten years now and the trees seem to be coping with,touch wood,no sign of dieback.

The dawn chorus is but a fond memory and only skylarks continue to sing.My local blackbirds and chaffinches ceased performing in early July.The two songthrushes I enjoyed for two years disappeared the day after the St.Judes storm last December and sadly did not form part of the chorus this spring.

Birds are undergoing their summer moult,or eclipse,and mallard drakes resemble their duller mates.Gulls are returning to the river and ponds and the recent spell of warm weather must have been of great advantage to swifts because they have already left,more than two weeks ahead of their normal departure date south.

One bright spot concerns my garden robin.He has lost his juvenile speckled breast and spends most of the day quietly clicking and musing to himself and already indulging in his rather sad autumnal song.He also spends much time perched on a lily pad in the pond fluttering his wings and preening.He must be the cleanest robin around and needs to be in good shape as he vigourously defends his garden territory from all comers except the magpies.