Raining hay...

Along with the insects, hay making suddenly burst into life with slightly unexpected consequences. While enjoying all of the damsels round the lake the other Sunday, we noted a strange, large, black shape bobbing at the water's edge. It was a large round hay bale wrapped in plastic. There was only one place it could have come from, which seemed too fantastic to be true, so of course we explored all the other implausible options as explanations for this anomaly.

Only later the next day did we discover the truth that it had indeed come down from two fields away, through the bracken, bouncing over two fences, crashing through some trees, only to belly-flop into the lake with a walrus-worthy splash. Barnes-Wallace of bouncing bomb fame would have been impressed we are sure and this epithet has now been appended as a nickname for the farmer, which is sure to last long into local folklore.

No serious damage done apart from some bent fences - the posts remained intact. You could not have done that if you had tried.

Pictures show retrieval.

Perhaps it will become a new country pursuit? Or even be added into the Olympics for 2012.

It should be pointed out that the farmer removing the 'bomb' is not the same one who put it in there.

Damsel Day

Sunday 9th August

Last Sunday was something of a "damsel day".

The summer has come in short bursts of a few hours here and the odd day there. Not the promised long hot barbecue summer but just fleeting glimpses of high intensity sun to warm the bones. No wonder last minute holidays are doing so well this year. The log burning stove has even had occasional use during July and August which seems most bizarre.

The larger winged insects who seem to rely on hot summers to make flying easier, have had to take each chance as it has come. Last Sunday was one of them. The electric-blue damsel flies were out in force and what a show. Usually this means seeing 4 or 5 together but there were squadrons of them flitting along the edge of the lake, pairing up and partaking in aerial displays and sorties, hovering over the water and perching on the rushes and reeds.

There was even the occasional heavy set dragonfly, so little seen this year but made visible in the glorious sunshine of this our Sunday-afternoon-summer. Who would want to be a weather-person?

Naturally I broke the first rule of the valley, which is to always carry a camera, so I have no photo to record the event which means you will have to imagine them all...