We find ourselves at the crossroads of the seasons. Summer has peaked and disbanded. Autumn lies in wait. But what a peak this summer period was, especially in the garden as the wildlife activity reached new heights once more.

Since my last blog entry on garden goings-on, the Foxes and Hedgehogs have continued to frequent, with cubs and hoglets stealing the limelight right up until August, with them now looking almost indistinguishable from their older counterparts. Fox cubs playing on the deadwood dotted around the garden and learning how to forage for invertebrates and small mammals was a really special time to be a part of. Fox cubs are quite fearless at just a few weeks old and June is usually the time that they will first venture from the safety of their dens to explore a uncertain new world. To witness this, often in broad daylight was quite something. Inevitably this behaviour brought out the parents well before dusk, lodging a nearby presence to keep an eye on their mischievous pups.

Not well enough to prevent them dragging food bowls out of the hedgehog feeding station however, as well as running off down the garden with their prize, as caught on my trail camera.

Kids will be kids.

Observing the Foxes in the garden each day, it was clear that they felt very comfortable in the long, wild grasses as it provided enough safe cover for them not be on constant alert. Just another reason why letting your garden ‘breathe’ once in a while can really make a difference. Not just for the local wildlife, but for us as well. The back garden has been enveloped in Speedwells, Violets, Buttercups, Common Vetch, Self-heal and Foxgloves all through the year and in addition, by encouraging our small front garden to grow natural also, surprisingly it turned itself into a Harebell lawn with the occasional protruding Pignut for good measure. I wondered if as this was our first summer in the house, whether these flowers have ever even come to light before due to all the over-mowing. Even the odd Cut-leaved Cranesbill and Scarlet Pimpernel have sprouted up. A gentle reminder that nature is not meant to be tamed nor tidied.

Let. It. Go.

Meandering now down to the bottom half of the garden, the wildlife pond has been flourishing. The adult Newts have moved on as they do after their breeding season, with the last sighting being at the very end of June. From the beginning of June up until now there has been a huge number of Newt efts moving around the water at various stages of their physical development and anytime that I have tried removing some of the algae from the pond, I have coincidentally and unavoidably been scooping them up in the net. Lovely to get a closer look though before their safe return.

The surrounding vegetation has been brimming for months now with Common Froghoppers, Small Skipper, Speckled Wood and Ringlet butterflies. But without doubt the most prodigious find at the pond in recent weeks was a female Southern Hawker dragonfly laying her eggs in the still water. I had waited all year for this to happen so for me it was pretty monumental that one of these overtly curious odonata paid a visit . Nevertheless, maybe not so much for some of the ponds smaller inhabitants as the dragonfly larvae are ferocious predators and will spend two years under water before their dramatic adult transformation.

One slight misfortune though, I am still yet to find a frog in our pond…

The long grasses have been home to so many insects, Cardinal Beetles, stridulating Common Field Grasshoppers and a new first for me - the incredible Hummingbird Hawkmoth. I was way too excited to get a decent snap of this as I watched it hovering around the Red Valerian, but if you get a chance to google them, do it as you will quickly understand what all the fuss is about! It was certainly pleasing to find some of the most stunning beetles going this week in the form of a Rosemary Beetle. Even if they do decimate the lavender. If you want wildlife to come to you, you can’t pick and choose after all.

I have had some fascinating finds whilst rangering in recent days. Survey work has given me close up views of hundreds of Emerald Damselflies glittering in the afternoon sun, attracting mates and laying eggs just under the waters surface - truly a sight to behold. A haul of one of my absolute favourite edible mushrooms, Chicken of the woods was the perfect reminder that the imminent changing of the seasons would hopefully be bringing in the start of a bumper crop of marvellous and mysterious fungi. Already I have discovered Black Bulgar and Blackening Waxcaps scattered around the garden, both for the first time.

The finest find of them all at work though was a small antler from a Roe Deer, perhaps from being shed after the mating season or even one that has been lying undisturbed for a few years. Either way, I am determined to one day find a complete pair!

Just this week there has been some wonderful and some equally wonderfully strange developments. As I stood at the kitchen window for a few seconds, one of the most impressive things I have seen recently transpired. A blaze of brown descended from above right down onto the bird table and as quickly as it appeared it was gone after a swerve around right in front of the window. At first I thought that it must be a female Sparrowhawk, but it just didn’t have the size. It was in fact a female Kestrel, and as it swooped down to the table it plucked a defenceless Blue Tit from its perch and I caught a fleeting glimpse of it clasped tightly in the raptors talons as it passed by before reaching a nearby oak to reap the rewards of its latest victim. It may sound like sad tale to some, but this is nature and it was phenomenal to see within touching distance.

It feels like a daily prevalence now that Red Kites are visible in the Beech at the garden perimeter, perching at the very top of the canopy. They are often in attendance early morning also, so I live in hope that they are scouting out a new communal roost, as is common place in the autumn. One of the many advantages of living in the Derwent Valley, a site of the species’ reintroduction program back in 2004.

The subject of my reference to the wonderfully strange is one which I didn’t ever expect to be writing about. But here we are.

The most surprising find of all turned out to be hiding in the downstairs toilet. Yes, you read that correctly.

A Common Frog, or froglet to be precise was found this week clinging to the inside of my toilet bowl. Whether it swam up from somewhere or maybe just become locked in the house one day and honed in on a water source, I honestly have no idea.

But one thing is for sure, my pond is finally no longer frog-less.

As I mentioned earlier '‘If you want wildlife to come to you, you can’t pick and choose after all.”

Evidently, it’s all or nothing.