Autumn in the countryside

Autumn in the East Sussex countryside was truly a wonder.  October was glorious.  The leaves on the trees surrounding  the bakery have turned vivid yellow, golds and copper.  Beautiful.   And despite the fact that November was a bit of  a murky wash-out, there were still moments of joy:  One day, after a rain shower, I stepped outside to find a complete, end-to-end, pot-of-gold-out-there-somewhere rainbow - the full radiant arc of it - which I don't think I've ever seen before.  And at one end where it came to ground (right beside Bodiam Castle, I mean, how nice was that?) I could see through the rainbow to the hills beyond.  

 But the best bit of the Autumn  has been Colin, the barn owl.  Colin (my name for him - don't know what he answers to at home) hunts in the fields close to the bakery, and we see him almost every day.  At first I ony saw him in the early morning, just as the dawn was breaking, but now we see him at many different times of day.  I've recently learned that barn owls are the only species of owl who hunt by day.  On Tuesday, he flew only yards from us, his head moving from side to side searching the ground below, and unfazed by our presence.   Magic.