There is no reason for this post other than to share these images of how autumn is gently encroaching, here in the Dales. The other morning I went out to feed the chickens and turned back to see my footsteps marked out in the first dew of the season.

The moisture in the air is circling these little hills with mists. As the shadows lengthen, each day delivers such sights! Everything is softened and drenched, lit like a play on a stage.

The bright yellow and orange patches of nasturtium blooms and the scarlet Montbretia splayed beneath the crab apple tree look preternaturally vivid in this faded, shining landscape.

And on my walks out along the roads and tracks, the dale is often curtained with that same heavy mist, but to compensate for the long view we are deprived of we find instead jewels, pearls, hanging in the hedgerow and reflecting the pale autumn daylight.