Yes, summer is firmly installed now, and finally the verges are taking on their straw colour that I normally associate with July. It arrived in a rush, with last Saturday starting to look promising, and last Sunday was as perfect a summer day as you could ask for. But it didn't know when to stop, and Monday was hotter, which made visiting a chum in hospital more appealing as they had air conditioning. Tuesday was deeply unpleasant - up to 39ºC measured in the shade in the garden, but with humidity, feeling a lot worse, and since then things have slowly calmed down to normal high summer.
On Monday, to finally welcome in summer, we got most of the cover on the gazebo in the garden. First I had to check all the fixings and resew a number of the tapes, as they had been buffeted rather in the winds last autumn. It is easiest to use my sewing machine outdoors, where the light is good and the table doesn't have a slippery surface. Poirot, the elderly cat, decided I needed help and supervision - fortunately it didn't make life too difficult!
We have started on the annual mow of the wildflower meadow (royal we). There is never an ideal time to do it, and currently it is a sea of white umbellifers, mostly wild carrot I think, but there are few butterflies, and the crickets seem to get out of the way OK, and if we leave it too long, the brambles and old man's beard and tiny saplings get more difficult to pulverise. Seeds of things like orchids and broomrape are now ripe so will be spread around in the mowing process.
A favourite flower is gaura, and this year, after it had been well and truly strimmed down to ground level, it has come back with a glorious display for us. I guess this could be the answer for how to keep it lovely!
I have been through the files on the trail camera that was overlooking one of the ponds. It wasn't the best placement, and it overlooked a path going across so you get lots of photos and videos of animal bottoms disappearing out of shot. This short video of a meandering doe is a rarity, and she doesn't stay around that long either!
Perhaps a day after the camera was set up, a stag took an interest in it, and had a good go and dismantling it, but failed.
The main purpose of the camera placement was to catch the boar having mud baths. They leave an imprint in the mud that is impressive, so I hoped to capture something interesting. One night I thought I might be in luck. A boar arrives.
It gets itself into position, after a bit of preparation.
But is then too far away from the trail camera to set it off again, until bath time is over anyway, at which point I get an image of a muddy boar! There is evidence of the boar bath place in the mud of the pond of course.
I would show you that, and the boar after its bath, but the internet is so slow and intermittent, I need perhaps 20 goes to get a photo loaded up, so I am calling it a day. Enjoy your week!
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