July started with another short hay-making weather window, with the middle day of 3 frustratingly gloomy and humid, before the weather brightened again. Though temperatures dropped as the winds swung to a Northerly direction.

I spotted a very attractive young smooth newt hiding under the cut grass, as I raked it up to the North of the Southerly hedge of the upper meadow, and it obligingly stayed still until I’d marched down to the house and back after grabbing my camera.  An example of a species one wouldn’t normally associate with a hay meadow, but which clearly finds plenty of invertebrate food and the right moist environment along the hedgerow border for it to survive.

During this very demanding session of manual raking, Fiona found yet another wasp nest, right above the back door, and with our satellite internet cable running through it, which meant yet another donning of my bee suit to safely foam spray it at the end of a long day. The thought of them either damaging the cable, tracking back along the whole through the masonry and ending up in our bedroom, or indeed attacking us as the nest grew ever bigger and began to fail later in the year didn’t appeal.

The focus then moved to our last garden opening session for 2025, which was extended somewhat since the forecast for the planned weekend looked wet and grey. Some necessary cutting back, over our narrow paths yielded a few Hydrangea ‘Preziosa’ flower heads, so these became the features for our table flower bowls, although the overnight rain quickly spoiled them. Fortunately several visitors were able to come on the Thursday and Friday when the meadows looked glorious in the sunshine, and the butterflies were out in force.

As were the Five-spot Burnet moths, with their dramatic red-marked whirring aerial flight. Like many butterflies, they immediately homed in on the flowers of our early variant of Devil’s-bit scabious, which were already opening by early July this year. A quick walk around the lower meadow also revealed a pristine Scarlet Tiger moth – always a delight to see.

Fiona spotted yet another wasp nest, this time constructed on a ditch bank near the stream.

The scent in the lower meadow from all the common valerian and meadowsweet flowers was intoxicating.

The garden always recedes from our main focus at this time of the year, as by Monday July 7th, another high pressure system began to build. So I cut about half of the remaining lower meadow, and a small swathe of the upper meadow – the plan being to get all our hay requirements into the sheds by the end of the week, when temperatures up to 30 degrees C were forecast.

And then the heat was well and truly on – no risk of rain, just rising temperatures towards 30 degrees C, almost no clouds, and only light winds. A big challenge to make the hay without keeling over.

Fiona had a very lucky escape when she lifted out some bedding which had been sitting in a big bag under cover, to spread into a pen for Indie, who once again had to be brought inside for a headfly dermatitis problem. She immediately noticed a cloud of wasps, and retreated. She’d actually managed to rip a wasp nest lurking in the bedding in half.

Opening the doors at dusk to allow cooler air into the house, and closing all the curtains/Velux blinds at least kept the house around 18 to 20 degrees C downstairs.

But it meant I had to step outside at dusk to close a shutter door, and so glimpsed a fabulous red/pink, near full moon, to the South, just rising above Geraint’s recently cropped hay fields. Two minutes later and it was disappearing behind clouds.

A very special moment.

As were some of the dew drenched, golden lit scenes from the top meadow very early in the morning. The following day I braved another climb up the hill in twilight to watch the full moon rising, a little later, and a little further South East than the night before.

 

Very fortunately, after such a demanding spell of hot weather, finally some light rain arrived to freshen up the landscape a little, and keep the stream flowing.

Our summer resident juvenile trout, or sea trout, have been holed up in the few deeper pools which we have on the stream as it passes through our land, but all salmonids are vulnerable to too high water temperatures, so the more overhanging vegetation and undercut banks, the better in conditions like this summer’s given us for many weeks.

Around this time we spotted that the wasp next in the ditch bank had been dug out by some animal – probably badger or fox, looking for grubs. Having decided it was now safe to pack away my bee suit for the third time, Fiona had an amazing escape when she inadvertently hauled out a huge armful of bedding which had been sitting undercover and suddenly discovered lots of buzzing and wasps in the air: she’d inadvertently torn in half yet another wasp nest constructed amongst this material, and somehow escaped without any stings.

For much of the rest of July, there was more in the way of grey skies, and at least some rain on many days, though not enough to bring the stream back to normal levels.

Much more green hay was cut and lugged around in big bags, often a really hard when rain had (unexpectedly) fallen on it.

Field mushrooms appeared from around the 26th in at least 2 fields, and I had a fabulous fleeting glimpse of a king fisher as I was shifting bags of green hay on July 28th.

The terrace garden has looked as good as ever this summer, with higher growth and more flowers.

Hydrangeas also added much colour and interest around the garden.

The Agapanthus have had an excellent year.

Even the copse looked lovely in the sunshine.

The month finished with 10 dry days, a total rainfall of 58.71mm and a PV reading of 480.58 KWH, making it a dry and benign month. The Met Office data for the month confirms that it was also warmer than average, continuing the very benign run of weather since March 2025.

Maximum and minimum readings are highlighted:

2013: 67.6 mm, 20 dry days, PV record -N/A

2014: 64.1 mm, 15 dry days, PV – 468.6 KWH

2015: 127.3 mm,  7 dry days, PV – 379.1 KWH

2016: 86.4 mm, 11 dry days, PV  –  390.6 KWH

2017: 138.3 mm, 10 dry days PV – 406.77 KWH

2018: 74.5 mm, 20 dry days, PV – 508.11 KWH 

2019: 73.8 mm, 16 dry days, PV – 460.61 KWH

2020: 121.1 mm, 15 dry days, PV – 399.77 KWH

2021:  77.6 mm, 14 dry days, PV – 470.28 KWH

2022: 112.1 mm, 21 dry days, PV – 490.49 KWH

2023: 201.3 mm, 6 dry days, PV – 377.75 KWH

2024: 123.4 mm, 7 dry days, PV – 410.67 KWH

2025: 58.71mm, 10 dry days, PV  480.58 KWH