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Just as all the summer clothes are safely packed away, and the central heating has come on, an Indian Summer has arrived, with temperatures in the low 20s - more like June than October. Great news for the various butterflies and dragonflies feeding in my Somerset garden: hardy autumn insects such as red admirals, which are currently getting drunk on the fermented juice of rotten cider apples strewn across my lawn.
They are so preoccupied with feeding that they hardly notice me as I approach, and I am able to marvel at the extraordinary beauty of what, if they were a bird, I would call their plumage. No other British butterfly shows quite such vibrant contrasts of ebony black, crimson red and white – and I do wonder whether, if red admirals were as rare as high brown fritillaries or purple emperors, we might appreciate their beauty more!
The other insect enjoying the autumn sunshine in my garden is the common darter dragonfly – a rhubarb-and-custard bi-plane of an insect, whose males are currently chasing their prospective mates around, in an urgent desire to mate before the frosts set in.


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Video: David Attenborough on how jays harvest acorns (from Life of Birds)
In the skies above Bristol and Somerset – and probably above much of the country too, there is a minor invasion. Jays – those colourful, stocky cousins of the magpie, are bouncing across the blue heavens, occasionally uttering that extraordinary call that sounds like muslin being torn apart.
These are not British jays, but birds from the continent, invading our shores in search of food. Over the coming season they will strip oak trees of acorns, eating some and caching others, to retrieve later in the year when food is scarce. This is how oak trees move uphill, of course.
So as the weather holds this weekend, what better time to head out into the autumnal countryside (or indeed suburbs, city parks and seaside) and look for wildlife…
Stephen Moss’s latest series, Birds Britannia, will be shown on BBC Four from Monday 1st November.]]> 51.5 -0.116667