Sep 20, 2026 · 9 min · 5 segments
The Irish for September is Mean Fomhair, meaning middle autumn or middle harvest. What can we see this month that makes it September and not another month? **Acknowledgements** Phil Barnett…
Alan MeeHost
What can we see this month that makes it September and not another month? The Swift is the earliest departure slipping away in August while the Willow Warbler follows a little later.
I see the swallow depart around the third week of the month, though some from further north, what I call the Donegal Swallows, pass through a little later and take any remaining summer with them.
I don't record the date the Chiff Chaff leaves, but I can still hear them in the garden well into mid-September.
I probably notice them more than the Willow Warbler because they're the more enthusiastic singer of the two.
The Willow Warbler, with its longer journey, falls quite and leaves that bit earlier.
It is a month for the Horse Chestnut to shed its conkers but perhaps a less acknowledged marker of the month is the burst of colour we see from the Devil Bits Scabious.
Although around since summer, locally their lavender hue seems to thrive in September when the colours from other flowers have faded away.
A couple of years ago I spotted a tortoise shell butterfly flit between them on its quest for nectar and it prompted an attempt at a haiku.
And though this year has not been a great season, I managed to pick a kilo to make the first crumble of the year, with more than enough left over for a pie.
English folklore warns that the last day to pick blackberries is Michaelmas on September 29th.
The legend has it that when Saint Michael expelled Lucifer from heaven, he fell from the skies and landed in a blackberry bush.
What can we see this month that makes it September and not another month? The Swift is the earliest departure slipping away in August while the Willow Warbler follows a little later.
I see the swallow depart around the third week of the month, though some from further north, what I call the Donegal Swallows, pass through a little later and take any remaining summer with them.
I don't record the date the Chiff Chaff leaves, but I can still hear them in the garden well into mid-September.
I probably notice them more than the Willow Warbler because they're the more enthusiastic singer of the two.
The Willow Warbler, with its longer journey, falls quite and leaves that bit earlier.
It is a month for the Horse Chestnut to shed its conkers but perhaps a less acknowledged marker of the month is the burst of colour we see from the Devil Bits Scabious.
Although around since summer, locally their lavender hue seems to thrive in September when the colours from other flowers have faded away.
A couple of years ago I spotted a tortoise shell butterfly flit between them on its quest for nectar and it prompted an attempt at a haiku.
And though this year has not been a great season, I managed to pick a kilo to make the first crumble of the year, with more than enough left over for a pie.
English folklore warns that the last day to pick blackberries is Michaelmas on September 29th.
The legend has it that when Saint Michael expelled Lucifer from heaven, he fell from the skies and landed in a blackberry bush.
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