The summer cruising season is now over and my boat is back at its home base on the River Suck but, thanks to the fact that it has a small solid fuel stove, I can still use it during the autumn and winter. 

At this time of year many perennial plants have to solve a problem. They produce seeds but if they just drop them on the ground the young plants won’t flourish because of competition from their parents. They have evolved a variety of strategies to solve this problem.

As the days get shorter and the nights get colder many animals are preparing strategies for surviving the winter. 

My study window looks out over a 10-acre meadow with a small hill on the far side. Under the grass on the hill there’s esker sand and gravel laid down in the last Ice Age. Back in the days when the main forms of transport round here were powered by horses and donkeys people had to be more locally self-sufficient, particularly for heavy items like sand and gravel, and a small quarry was opened up on the west side of the hill.

One of the childish pleasures of boating on the inland waterways is throwing the crusts overboard after breakfast and watching the melee. 

This was a year when spring seemed to morph into autumn with very little in between. Autumn arrives officially in September and it’s a time of great change for wild birds.

My boat was tied up in a marina and I was sitting on deck when a visitor arrived. A waterhen walking slowly along the jetty. They really are the clowns among water birds.

THIS is the time of year when wasps become annoying, disrupting garden barbecues, country picnics, and the drinkers in the outdoor smoking area, writes Richard Collins

EVERYONE has been complaining about the weather this summer but there are some small compensations. 

This summer I have spent less time than usual outdoors and more time inside reading about the outdoors.