Regency Flora and Fauna for September

It feels good to be back in the groove. It has been quite a couple of weeks. I am in the thick of editing a novel that I hope will follow No Regrets. I think I have one more read through and I can send it off.

By the way, check out my count down to the publishing date for No Regrets in the side bar there!! I thought it was a cute little touch. Not sure what happens when it hits the date.

Flora and Fauna for September

Well, I think we all know how we feel about September. It marks the end of summer and is for many either back to school, or send them back to school. What did our Naturist say about September?

He says quite rightly, that the birds more or less stop singing the way they did through the spring and summer but notes the following:

One little bird, however, yet delights us with the sweetest harmony: in the calm mornings of this season of the year the woodlark carols in the air, chiefly in the neighbourhood of thickets and copses, with a soft quietness perfectly in unison with the sober, almost melancholy stillness of the hour. The sweet simple note of the robin is again heard, and the skylark delights us with his melody.

I expect we are all familiar with the British robin. It is much smaller than the North American bird and shows up on Christmas cards both sides of the Atlantic. Just in case, here he is again.


But what about the wood lark.

He is apparently related to the skylark. I really like this idea of a bird that sings in the quiet mornings of Fall, or Autumn as they woul dhave called it in Regency times.

There are lots of flowers still to be seen, including phlox and marigolds, golden rod and hollyhock, in fact many of the flowers we rely on today to make the shift into winter a colorful one. He waxes a little poetic about Dahlias, which are at their best in September and flower right through until the first frost. Dahlias grow from tubors and I can remember very well our neighbor growing rows and rows of them and entering them in contests. Dahlias were discovered in central america by the Spanish, and it was in the 1800's that they came into their own.

I found the following extract quite interesting.

Herrings pay their annual visit to England in September, and afford a rich harvest to the inhabitants of its eastern and western coasts. At Boulogne-sur-Mer in France, before the herring fishery commences, the priests, accompanied by a host of people, proceed to the sea-side, perform the ceremony of blessing the ocean, and invoke success on the labours of the fishermen, in prayers adapted to the
occasion.

The folks at Boulogne-sur-Mer still celebrate the herring and have their annual herring festival in November. I think I will have to pay that one a visit sometime.

Until next time, happy rambles.