1990 July and August
July 3rd
On the banking on
Darwen Road Cotton Thistles and Creeping Thistles are
flowering. Creeping Thistles have a beautiful perfume as
does the Honeysuckle, which is out in local hedges at the
moment. Self Heal is flowering on a lot of local lawns.
Knapweed is flowering by the pond on Darwen Road.
July 6th
Sky overcast but
very humid. Near the mill Wild Strawberries are out with
Hart’s Tongue Ferns on the wall. There was a Moorhen hiding
under the bank of the river. Down the Clough, Great Willow
Herb is flowering. By the cricket club, there was a tiny red
Ladybird, half the size of a 7-spot, tomato-soup red in
colour, and with faint black spots. In the front garden a
small black Red-tailed Bumble Bee was hovering over the
flowers. I saw another on Clover down the Clough last week.
July 7th
I saw a fly like a Drone Fly, with huge brown orb eyes and
yellow and black striped abdomen. It had a sucker it was
tentatively putting on and off the oak leaf below. It was
possibly Tabanus
seditious or a
related species.
July 10th
This evening there
was a blue sky and sunshine, with white clouds that looked
as if they had been finely combed. The clouds became deep
pink as the sunset. In the field on Darwen Road, the Ragwort
is flowering – which shouldn’t be out till August, and there
are Beech Nuts on the trees in Egerton which shouldn’t be
there until September. The seasons are all cocked up. Mother
Nature’s clock is being ruined by the greenhouse effect.
July 14th
Gorgeous weather;
clear blue sky, hot sunshine, gentle breeze. You can see the
moon. David saw a large Skipper down the Clough, and I saw a
dark red Dragonfly, the first I’ve seen this year.
July 15th
There was a
silent-flying Cleg Fly after us down near the Mill Pond. It
bit us twice so I took the extreme step of killing it –
which is generally against my principles with nature. There
was a Cinnabar Moth on the Rosebay. Great Willow Herb is out
too. In the pond enormous Carp were circling in shoals, with
smaller Perch and baby fish. We saw three stunningly bright
blue Damselflies skimming over the waters edge.
Everywhere feathery seed heads can be seen on the Grasses,
with clumps of Bush Vetch, Kidney Vetch and Birdsfoot
Trefoil. There are berries on the Wild Cherries and on the
Mountain Ash. At the river at Galebrook, Giant Hogweed is
twenty foot high and has white umbelifer flowers as big as a
dinner plate. It is a deadly plant: the juices can burn you.
July 16th
Pineapple Mayweed is
flowering on waste ground under a deep blue sky and hot
sunshine. There is a baby Hedgehog living in our front
garden. Yesterday they bailed the hay in the local field. On
the path we found a dead Mole eight inch long. It’s such a
shame to see such lovely creatures dead: the farm machinery
probably killed it.
Down
the Clough I saw three Blue Tits and a flock of juvenile
Starlings. Small birds are rare because we have so many
resident Magpies. You usually see at least four and
sometimes ten every time you go down the Clough.
July 22nd
Yellow Refluxed
Stonecrop is flowering on the waste ground. The sun is hot
and there is a lovely breeze blowing. I saw a Red Dragonfly
by the garage. Meadow Cranesbill is out up the back lane and
pink Ragged Robin is out on the common. A purple flower
similar to Great Knapweed is out in the hedges, with purple
Self Heal where the grass is short, and Knapweed or Hardhead
near the pond on Darwen Road.
July 25th
Hot sun and blue
sky, with a pair of brown Swifts gliding away into the deep
blue yonder. There are seeds on the Creeping Thistles now,
and at Walmsley, Beech mast has already fallen. On the
common, a Ragwort - very much like Marsh Ragwort - is
flowering, though I think it maybe a hybrid as the ground is
far from marshy. Up the back lane Golden Rod and Yellow
Loosestrife are beginning to flower.
July 26th
This evening we saw
a pale yellow Brimstone Moth with flecks of ginger flying
over the valley. It is overcast, with a wind turning the
leaves on the trees.
August
6th
Found the tiny blue
flowers of the Early Forget-me-not by the pavement in front
of the house. Bindweed flowers are out in Blackburn road and
Woody Nightshade berries can be seen in the hedge. At
Belmont by the river Yellow Pimpernel is flowering, and in
the meadows Yarrow or Milfoil is out, with its pinky white
flowers and feathery leaves.
August
19th
Sneezewort is out in
the fields and the Heather on the moors. A lovely slender
yellow-bellied Willow Warbler has been hopping about in the
front garden with Blackbirds, Blue Tits, Chaffinches,
Starlings, and a Great Tit was flying through the valley.
Ragwort is flowering, lovely golden yellow clusters of
flowers, on the lower reaches of Turton Heights.
August
27th
The Hawthorns
locally are covered in red berries, which come only out in
October at the farm.