Netting the pond

In our neighbours’ field beyond the woodshed, a possy of young charolais cattle cantered down the hillside, cream against green, then cream against russet, gold and burnt orange as they made for a hedgerow of oak, hazel and bracken. Realising it won’t be long before the ground, rather than branches are strewn with leaves, I cut back the plants that grow in the shallow margins of the pond so I could net over the water surface. (Nutrients released from rotting leaves would feed algae next year, so to keep the water clear, collecting the leaf litter is well worth the effort). Dying iris leaves, withered loosestrife and long-empty primula seedheads were no loss, and the pretty cattails were still tidy enough to bring in for dried flower arrangements, but, as every year, I hated shearing off still fine goblets of carnivorous Sarracenia and the broad glaucous flags of Thalia dealbata. Fortunately I did manage to lift free a pot of Osmunda regalis, the Royal Fern, at the height of its autumnal splendour – it won’t suffer for a few weeks with its feet out of the water at this time of year.