Garden Spider - October 2019

After two weeks of wind and rain, it was a beautiful sunny morning for my photo shoot in dad's garden this week.

It was that time of the year again when you had to be quite careful about wandering around the garden, as at every turn, you were likely to run into one of these guys - a Garden Spider (Araneus diadematus).

They had built their webs literally everywhere, and by the time I'd finished my shoot, I was covered in silk from their webs.

Smallest Sunflower - October 2019

I almost needed a magnifying glass for my next find! It was the smallest Sunflower (Helianthus) I've ever seen. The flower head was only about an inch across and the whole plant was less than eight inches tall.

Common Honeysuckle - October 2019

A more common sight at this time year are the Common Honeysuckle (Lonicera periclymenum) flowers, the blooming branches winding their way through a Conifer hedge in this instance.

Oxeye in the Spotlight - October 2019

Some of the Oxeye Daisies (Leucanthemum vulgare) were still putting on a good display, and this one really stood out as it glowed in the morning sunshine.

Multiple Bishops - October 2019

Another plant with staying power this year turned out to be the Dahlia 'Bishop of Llandaff', which had lots of flowers remaining, and a few flower buds still left to open.

Spent Coneflower - October 2019

The Echinacea blooms were a lot further along in their life cycle, and had already formed seed heads.

Hazelnut - October 2019

It was only a couple of weeks ago that I was expressing my surprise at how many hazelnuts were growing on the Twisted Hazel Tree (Corylus avellana 'Contorta'). This week, this was the only nut I could find!

Bract Degeneration - October 2019

The Lacecap Hydrangea (Hydrangea macrophylla) bush bracts continued their slow, and rather beautiful, journey of decay, on their way to becoming mere skeletal forms of their former selves.

Autumnal Acer - October 2019

The Acer palmatum trees were really beginning to colour up as we got further into autumn.

Cotoneaster Berries - October 2019

Further signs of autumn progress were evident with the Cotoneaster bushes being covered in these beautiful red berries...

Pyracantha Berries - October 2019

...and one of the Firethorn (Pyracantha) bushes had branches full of these bright orange berries.

So this week I went with Garden Spider as my Image of the Week simply because it was nice to come across a spider web with an inhabitant before I'd inadvertently walked straight into it...