This seems like a big moment.
As this endless summer of heat and drought grinds inexorably on for us in West Wales. I reflected this morning that there has been no significant urban unrest as typically happens during such hot summer weather in the UK. Why? Perhaps the populace feels ground down by events and are escaping into other places – real or imagined.
Instead, the landscape around us is on fire.
On Friday, anyone with a Smartphone in Wales was roused from their stupor, or whatever else they were doing, by multiple, loud, odd buzzing sounds. To read a message in the Welsh language. Which apparently warned everyone of the risks of, and a ban on lighting anything that could spark a fire: including barbecues, campfires, and fireworks.
How helpful.
This is a very brief post for me, with no discussion of other recent sights or sounds – just a few teaser images. I hope to write about some of these soon.
Along with incessant rotational watering, a substantial amount of my time over the last week has been spent filming and editing a long video. My accompanying notes discuss the challenges:
How has our garden and landscape been affected by possibly the hottest and driest summer that West Wales has experienced for centuries?
How are we managing to keep plants alive with very limited access to our own spring source and IBC-stored water?
How much water do we use per plant?
Which plants are we trying to save?
Which plants seem to be the worst affected?
Many of the plants we grow are from regions where high rainfall and high humidity are normal – as they usually are here. Many are decades-old friends.
I’ve tried to portray with thoughts, images and some hopeful, uplifting flashbacks to more benign times, how things looked on August 15th 2026.
The 2 native yellow flowers growing on our steep shale bank, which I mention in passing without naming, and which are coping incredibly well with the drought, are Goldenrod, Solidago virgaurea, and the more vigorous and taller Narrow-leaved Hawkweed, Hieracium umbellatum. A star plant for this drought.
Gabriel Hemery, whom I reference over tree knowledge, health and disease and the long-term influence of drought on their health, can be found here, for example: https://gabrielhemery.com/blog/2026/08/05/after-the-heatwave-tree-species-adapted-to-droughts/
Huge thanks to Fiona, who very gamely took up my challenge to manage both an unfamiliar handheld camera and a microphone to film much of the content. She did a fantastic job for a newbie, with almost no instruction.
Whilst I, unusually, stepped in front of the lens. And challenged myself to sound articulate and lucid at a time of considerable fatigue. But then we’ve always worked well as a team.
With no pre-planned script and no retakes, it’s a rash, rough, rushed record, but let’s hope this video, shot mainly over the last 3 days, marks the low point of this worrying time. Apologies for a couple of sound glitches, where I fear the mic cable might have become a bit loose. It might even be a little long, and would benefit from being cut down. But time was of the essence for it to feel contemporary, and it’s a real slog editing these pieces, along with all the watering and rush cutting. As anyone who tries to do this will know.
At least I was sitting down a bit for the editing, which was hugely beneficial!
Whatever, this film will establish a baseline for us. And in due course, allow analysis of how the garden and landscape have been impacted in the months and years ahead by this summer’s weather. Perhaps there may be some tiny nuggets of information included that others might find useful or interesting too, should they actually watch any of it.
Here’s the video, and apologies if the image quality is poor – you can try setting YouTube to HD settings, but it doesn’t always work for me. I can assure you that the original material is more acceptable.