Nature excels in its autumn song

IT’S amazing how smaltz songs can contain memorable lines, phrases that never leave one, no matter how saccharine or sentimental.

Other song lines stuck in my head are “When Autumn leaves begin to fall” and “Poetry in motion”. “The hills of Donegal” is another line etched indelibly in my brain.

Autumn in its glory is the light and the leaves. Last weekend, we were again bowled over by the beauty of the autumn sun gilding the dwarf gorse on the Sheep’s Head peninsula in west Cork and turning the sea to turquoise. It was marvellous out there, a wake-you-up breeze blowing but quite warm as one walked, especially given the exertions of the path along the ridge near the tip, where the sea is below one on both sides, Dunmanus Bay to the south, Bantry Bay to the north. Hairy molly caterpillars crossed the path; we saw at least half a dozen. Tortoiseshell butterflies were flying. The views were magnificent, panoramic, breathtaking; it was easy to see why Ireland is considered one of the most beautiful countries in the world. Indeed, we should, perhaps, consider this more often in these economically-stressful days. We can’t live on the scenery but at least there’s some joy to be had for free.