17th June 2019 Rural invasion.

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Monday 17th 67-72F, an hour's walk to the lanes and beyond in warm but milky sunshine. The lanes were full of fritillary butterflies but all safely avoided my lens. Fortunately there were no witnesses to my wild chases.

The hedgerows have now been invaded by multi-stemmed, sticky burr plants. While a Giant Hogweed was decorating a recently gravelled, agricultural site. It should be really spectacular once it gets up a real head of steam. I heard they pour liquid nitrogen down the cut stems to finally get rid of it when nothing else works.

I remember being talked into making a giant pea shooter with a stem borrowed from a bomb site in my early youth. Not something you easily forget once you stick one in your mouth! It's quite amazing I have survived this long.

A windmill repair man has arrived disguised as a white van man.He must tend to a poorly wind turbine which had gone on strike over weekend pay. Or, perhaps it had been a casualty of the recent lightning? I presume they know what they are doing, by now, when it comes to adverse weather. It was anything but adverse today. Reaching a cosy 72F in mostly, bright sunshine with lots of photogenic cloud for decoration.

Tuesday 18th 67-78!F, warm and bright but cloudy. A walk to the lanes and beyond. The sky was mostly high, thin cloud with only limited blue. Lots of birds to enjoy. A deer and a hare bounded off. Only to return minutes later to cross the same, bare field. Perhaps it was two others which hadn't heard the rumours of my stately arrival?

The wind turbine had been repaired but was facing a slightly different way to its partners. Not an easy group to capture well because of dodgy spacing on a sloping site. They never look perfectly upright but it must be an illusion. I laid a grid over the image and they are leaning slightly to the right.

I was able to admire a hundred yards of Japanese knotweed and took a token photograph for posterity. A screening hedge has turned into semi-wild, strip woodland over the years. With a whole range of woody specimens for the wildlife to cling to, sing and nest in.  This is a peaceful, seldom visited area on a quiet lane to nowhere in particular. With commanding views out across the countryside thanks to quite modest elevation.

It reached a sweaty 78F in the afternoon. A few rumbles of thunder were followed by stair rods at 16.40.

Click on any image for an enlargement.

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