During this month the terrible weather has been talked about endlessly, almost as if it has been a surprise. A miserable month with almost continuous rain, two major storms, (Antoni and Betty), lots of thunder and lightening and wild , 'unseasonably windy weather' (MET). But August has always been a wet weather month - I remember many a 'Summer' holiday, as a child, spent under canvas, holding onto various tent poles in howling gales and driving rain. That was August - full waterproofs were always packed alongside the swimming gear.
This year, it was also very warm and muggy during August - apart from when the storms showed up. Most days called for wellies, shorts and rain jackets. Perfect for all sorts of creatures that are unwanted in the garden - yes, the snails and slugs did a magnificent job in munching their way through any young, green shoots and left the vegetable plot looking very sad. We did several plantings throughout the month - peas and beans of all sorts survived, the squash, corn and courgettes were clearly not a taste the molluscs wanted and all grew to be strong and healthy, the only greens to survive were chard and spinach and in the salad department, the rocket was the sole survivor. But the apples and blackberries were glorious, the trees bent double with fruit. You win some, you lose some.
Inspite of my childhood memories of wet Summers, it's clear that the weather is becoming more extreme at all times of the year and it would be hard not to feel sympathy for the schoolchildren whose holidays started at the end of July. Locked up in classrooms, (many of whom were sitting their exams), missing the longest days of the year, whilst the sun shone and the heat beat down upon the rest of us. And within a few days of their holiday, Storm Antoni burst onto the scene, causing many cancelled events and holidays. It also caused hundreds of small striped snails to appear on the footpaths down by the sea. They arrived in the early morning, covering the bracken paths, and stayed for about two weeks and then disappeared. Various local wildlife blogs mentioned sightings of them all over Cornwall, several different identities were put forward: White lipped Snails, Sandhills, White Italian Snails, Banded Snails. I'm happy to confess complete ignorance about Snail identification - I'll go along with any of the titles above.
There is both life and death in the field, as always. The Buddleia flowers have lost their colour, only the dead conical shape remain. The Creeping Thistles are now matted silver balls of fluff and the skeletal shapes of reddish brown Docks can be spotted across the field. Flashes of orange wings flit though the grasses, evidence of a 'kaleidoscope' of Gatekeeper butterflies in the field this year, ( yes, the collective noun for butterflies is a kaleidoscope, how brilliant is that?). In addition to this, and sticking with the collective noun theme, we have also had a veritable 'orchestra' of many Great Green Bush Crickets, who have croaked and jumped all over the field and garden. Flowers still growing, are supplied by Feverfew, Lesser Hawkbit, Meadow Vetch, Ragwort, White Clover, Purple Loosestrife, Soapwort, Montbretia and new leaf growth is supplied by Plantain, and Silverweed. Berries on the Elderflower trees show abundant supplies, and the Haws and Sloes are covering the bushes, but yet to come into their full, ripened colours.
Up above our heads, the Swallows are still with us, out and about in the evenings, dive bombing and showing off to each other. They are preparing to go, but still consider the barns to be their domain. If any of us should have the nerve to use any of the tools in the barn, they flit back and forth over our heads, making it clear that they are outraged to find us in their territory. The Owls are still chatty at night, they don't appear to be bothered by rain or wind.
The first chill mornings arrived in the last couple of days of August and that was it - the season had changed.
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