October began with the garden and land still waiting to restore groundwater levels after the exceptional summer and a drier-than-average September.

There was a mix of sunshine, some partly dry days, and murky damp periods, but by the middle of the month, we had enjoyed only 2 dry days, with a maximum of 10 mm, being the only double-digit rainfall event. Temperatures were also often mild.

This meant that grass in all the fields and garden bounced back.

However, the oaks all continue to look very sick, with no acorns, crown thinning and terminal twig drop, and the jays have had to switch to collecting and burying hazelnuts for winter food caches.

Waxcap mushrooms, usually a delight at this time of the year, were very slow to appear, and in reduced numbers.

Even the spreading ring of honey fungus on the croquet lawn seemed to have petered out this year.

Honey bees continued to be active in the mild weather with all hives looking in fine form, except the Swedish butterchurn which I removed after it had fallen over again, and which had anyway by then produced two swarms earlier this year.

Molehill numbers slowly increased, but my impression is that there may now only be single moles in 4 of the fields, none in one, and perhaps 3 or 4 in the upper hay meadow.

At last we felt we were catching up with garden and land maintenance tasks, with hedge cutting continuing, after a close call whilst falling off the tripod ladder trimming the Yew viaduct. We’ve only had to remove a few surplus shrubs which had suffered from the drought, so my efforts with hours of watering throughout July and August weren’t in vain.

In addition, we’ve opted to cut back many of the Hydrangeas, rather than just thin the stems out, to mitigate summer water stress.

The underground wasp nest beneath a rhododendron in the lower copse continued to be incredibly active from very early dawn until dusk, with a count of 84 wasps per minute implying a colony size of around 2700 ( – multiply the minute count by 32.24).

I was caught out after delaying putting pee out around the fields (not wanting to deter any hares) by a much later-than-usual turf-ripping incident overnight in the upper hay meadow on October 12th. It’s amazing just how much damage can be caused by a badger(s?) in a very short period.

But autumn leaf colours are developing nicely as we move into the middle of the month, and with more generally benign weather forecast, there’s much to look forward to.

I enjoyed a couple of wonderful quiet hours around dawn on Saturday and Sunday of October 17th/18th, when the stars were amazing, and I could sit on the serenity swing in complete silence and watch the dawn light gradually infuse the sky.

A walk around the fields often shows something new – what had spooked the ewes?

I’m guessing the robin benefits from the extra heat on the Starlink dish.

Yet more lovely skies and scenes around the garden when the sun appeared.

Even a couple of rainbows and the first snowdrops appeared.

The weather finally shifted to a more familiar unsettled autumnal spell with the arrival of Storm Austen on October 23rd. Stormy winds and 23 mm in a 24-hour period didn’t deter a weasel from hunting right outside the front door in the wind and rain. (No chance of a photo, sadly.) The first time I’ve ever seen one in all our years here.

The month ended on a dry, sunny, calm note with another high-pressure system building.

Monthly rainfall was just below our mean value for the month (207mm), at 194.71 mm. 7 dry days, no frosts and a good PV total of 227.51 KWH.

So another month of slight rainfall deficit, extending back to when the big drought kicked in at the beginning of July of this year.

My weather records for October are below, with the maximum and minimum highlighted. October 2026 falls into the average category for most parameters – given the shortening days, this October was quite benign.

2014: 224.4 mm, 5 dry days, PV N/A

2015: 115.05 mm, 17 dry days, PV 231.5 KWH

2016: 71.8 mm, 23 dry days, PV 242.19 KWH

2017: 129.6 mm, 6 dry days, PV 166.31 KWH

2018: 233.5 mm, 14 dry days, PV 234.16 KWH

2019: 224.6 mm, 6 dry days, PV 189.96 KWH

2020: 274.5 mm, 6 dry days, PV 166.58 kWh

2021: 288.7 mm, 4 dry days, PV 167.54 KWH

2022: 249.3mm, 6 dry days, PV 202.81 KWH

2023: 301.7 mm, 6 dry days, PV 185.7 KWH

2024: 149.9 mm, 8 dry days, PV 209.9 KWH. 1 frost on October 11th 2024

2025: 226.8mm, 10 dry days, PV 158.01 KWH. No frosts.

2026: 194.71 mm, 7 dry days, PV 227.51 kWh. No frosts