We had a damp start to what turned out to be a very wet July. The river level was up and down all month, and on the eighteenth there was over two inches of rain that put a good bit of spate onto the river.
We also had a lot of localised flooding which caused some of the smaller burns that run into the river to flow at levels we have not witnessed before, just the sheer intensity of the prolonged heavy rain over a short period of time caused this.
All this rain meant that there was a bit more inside work than normal being done for the time of the year. There has been a bit of painting done in the workshop, with the old diesel winch getting a coat of gloss. A lot of the cutting tools have been getting a bit more maintenance than usual for the time of the year.
We even had some of the old hedge-bills sharpened up and put to use to tackle some of the giant hogweed that is prevalent in some areas about the riverside.
It has been a quieter time about the riverside and we have not seen as much bird activity of late, although the Common Sandpipers seem to have done alright this year.We have been seeing a few more Bullfinches and the resident Mute swan cygnet is getting up in size.
The combine harvesters are behind schedule getting out into the fields this year, and the Purple Loosestrife and Rebeccia have been much later coming into bloom. One shrub that is doing very well for flowering is the Buddleia, they are at their best just now and when there is a warm day the butterflies certainly make the most of them.
On the good days that we did have our bees up at the hive have been very active and we managed to get some honey spun and put through the strainer before jarring it up.
It was a more settled spell of weather at the end of the month and the river level dropped back to summer level.
