Even down here, we've had a disappointing Spring. In March it was as if Summer had arrived early but then the Jetstream started to do whatever it shouldn't and the sun went all coy. At long last normal conditions have been resumed and Nature is trying to catch up (generally been about 3 weeks behind schedule).
Wild life has been quiet as well - swallows and bee-eaters were late to arrive and the partridges nesting in the verge of our lane have had a damp time of it. Crows have been bad-tempered - I watched three of them attacking a kestrel in mid-flight, constantly swooping down on their victim to peck at it; made me think of a WWII dog-fight.
Only now are the butterflies appearing more profusely in our little valley, which normally has thousands of them. (A group of lepidopterists who stayed with us a few years back found 106 species in the area, 57 of them around our property.) But today they're as busy as the bees around the lavenders - not that you would think that from my picture taken with the 21stC equivalent of a Kodak Box-Brownie. As soon as I try to get closer to them they're away to the next bush.
Just read that the weather forecast for the rest of the summer is highly optimistic - perhaps that will encourage the folk who stayed at home in May & June to come over for a break in September...
Just read that the weather forecast for the rest of the summer is highly optimistic - perhaps that will encourage the folk who stayed at home in May & June to come over for a break in September...
Time to reach for my sun-lounger, glass of rosé and John le Carré and go out and keep our cocker Diva company.
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