For me, the end of summer heralds a change of seasons and a wealth of new wildlife-watching opportunities. As the harvest is gathered in, the landscape transforms.
Foxes, deer and hares are no longer hidden by tall, waving corn, but stand, bemused, in the empty stubble fields, wondering where their cover has gone. It always surprises me how reluctant they are to leave the fields and take cover in the woods.
Buzzards and kites are easy to spot as they scan the stubble fields looking for any casualties that haven't managed to escape the combine bed. The fields around Harewood House are one of the best places in Yorkshire to see them.
Nowadays more and more farmers are adopting wildlife-friendly combining methods to avoid such casualties. Instead of starting at the edge of a field and finishing in the middle, where all the animals and birds tend to get trapped as the field is combined around them, they start in the centre to allow wildlife to escape out to the edges.
It's the drivers of combines who get to see this country's smallest and rarest game bird: the quail. At just 7” long, this diminutive bird is a poor flyer. It will only flush out as a last resort in front of the combine bed, flying a short distance before dropping back into cover.
Their size and their reluctance to flush makes them tricky to see on foot, so listen out for their call, a three-syllable whit-whit-whit.
Down the road from my gallery runs the Wold's Way. This public path crosses stubble fields where, if you keep your eyes peeled you can sometimes see English Partridge gathered up in coveys. These family groups of birds are now much scarcer than the more common French.
At dusk, noisy skeins of geese fly up to the Wolds from Wheldrake Ings and other wetland areas to overnight on stubble fields to hoover up the spilt grain.
This is harvest time for wildlife too. A glut of seeds, berries, grain and nuts shine like jewels on every shrub and tree.
From jays and wood mice collecting acorns, to badgers gorging on worms to lay down fat reserves, this is the time animals and birds stock up their winter larder.
It is also time to watch the skies for migrating birds as we lose our insect-eating summer visitors and welcome back the berry and fruit-eating winter visitors like field fares and redwings from northern Europe .
Look out for ospreys as they make their long journey to Africa . Well stocked ponds, lakes and rivers provide temporary feeding stops en route. Look for them resting and drying off nearby. Ospreys are big birds and prefer to land on branches with no foliage.
One of my favourite day trips at this time of year is to the North Yorkshire moors to see the heather before it finishes flowering. I usually go to Fadmoor or Rosedale Moor, choosing a day with a bit of cloud in the sky so I can watch the shafts of light play across the landscape making a tapestry of colours.
You can see family groups of red grouse there if you take your time and scan the horizon for their heads poking up out of the heather. Once you've spotted one, you can usually see more.
Curlews, lapwing and golden plovers are also more visible now that their chicks are well grown. And check out rocks and fence posts for resting peregrines and merlins. This year's young will be particularly active now as they seek out new territories and fine tune their hunting skills before bad weather and short days make hunting more difficult.
And so, although the days are becoming shorter and the end of summer is nigh – a new season of wildlife watching opportunities is just beginning.
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Wildlife Diary -
