A rare sunny day in this soggy autumn and I was hanging out the washing when I heard the flock of fieldfares and redwings. They had just arrived in the village from their breeding grounds in Scandinavia, Iceland and even as far afield as Siberia. They will be with us all winter, roaming through the fields, looking to feast on windfall apples, haws and holly berries. When the fruit bonanza is finished, they’ll snack on worms, snails, slugs and any other insect they encounter in the grass.