With the house closed and Covid-19 rumbling on like a smoking volcano the best thing to do is walk locally and enjoy the highs and some lows in the local scenery. Its always a highlight to see the trout heading to their spawning grounds or digging the gravel just above the bridge at the house. The easy sign that the trout are spawning is where the herons position themselves looking for unsuspecting trout and of course lost eggs from the trout redds. This year a photo of a trout in November jumping at the falls in Oughterard was also a lovely sight.

Of course the Autumn brings out the many fungi when conditions are suitable such as the Geastrum sp. that we find occasionally under the trees in the garden – with its star shaped form it is always a marvel of nature. This year we have also planted two tree ferns in our fern garden and they have added a new dimension to that part of the garden.

One of the lows is the continued creep of invasive species around the locality. The dreaded Coltsfoot is spreading on the road margins around Oughterard and we even have some small patches in the garden that are proving very difficult to eradicate. Left uncontrolled these will ultimately take over. The flower comes before the leaves which will ultimately shade out everything else – thus severely impairing the biodiversity of the area.