Friday 15 October 2021

Nostell's cygnets are turning into swans

Our weather continues in an unremarkable state at the moment with very little to write about. We’ve had a drop of rain, enough for us to make a start digging over beds at the allotment, but certainly nothing exceptional. The chart below shows our rainfall for the last four weeks.

Temperature & Rainfall Records 15 September - 15 October 2021

Temperature-wise, October is heading the same way as September. It has been a mild start to the month but again nothing exceptional with no record-breaking hot days or cold days for October.

At the allotment, our main harvesting period has come to an end with lots of fruit and vegetables now stored safely at home in the freezer, greenhouse, garage, or summerhouse. 

At the allotment, we've made a start clearing beds of old spent summer crops and getting them dug over if possible.

With less time spent at the plot, we’ve ventured a little bit further afield for Ruby’s walks. Ruby had a walk around Clumber Park last week. Fortunately, we picked a decent day for our visit.


This week we had a trip to Temple Newsam. However, the weather wasn’t that great with drizzly spells of rain on and off through the afternoon. Not that a drop of rain puts Ruby off a walk. Certainly, some of the trees at Temple Newsam are beginning to take on an autumnal tinge.

On Thursday afternoon we took Ruby on a walk around Nostell Priory. We hadn't visited for a couple of weeks and I was expecting the trees to have taken on a more autumnal tinge than they had. These trees near the car park were beginning to turn.

The biggest surprise though was the cygnets. As we walked around the lake the cygnets were at the far side of the lake but it was obvious that they were beginning to turn from cygnet grey into swan white. We were lucky that as we watched from the lakeside a couple of the cygnets swam across the lake and began feeding very close to where we were standing.
I wonder what the next stage will be for the 4 young swans. Will all six swans continue to live on the lake or will the youngsters be forced to find a new home for themselves?