End of summer

Yesterday I was walking through the fields enjoying the sunshine, watching the farmer finishing the harvest.

This field had a machine throwing out rectangular bales but I noticed the field next door had round bales.  I don't know if there are any reasons for choosing round over rectangular bales other than the available machinery, or maybe the whim of the moment.

The hedges were filled with berries, not all ripe just yet but plenty of them.  It seems to have been a good year in spite of the poor start to the summer.

Blackberries

Hawthorn

Rose hips

All these make me want to go foraging and make the berries into jams and jellies.  I won't of course, but it's a nice thought.

Many of the hedges are covered in Old man's Beard, or Clematis vitalba.

It climbs and twists around bushes and trees rather like a cultivated clematis but it can be invasive.  It's more common in the south of England and on chalky soils.  It's also known as Traveller's Joy because a herbalist in the 16th century thought it decorated and adorned the hedgerows all through the winter.   Personally I think it looks very nice shining in the sun at this time of year but it can look very scraggy by the end of a wet winter.  It's officially considered a pest in New Zealand but you can actually buy plants in the UK.

Teasels.  They can grow to 2 metres or 6 feet.  One variety used to be used to "tease" cloth, or raise a nap on fabrics, in the textile industry.  They were replaced by metal cards but some say the natural teasels did a better job.  Teasel plants can be invasive and are considered so in the USA and, it has to be said, my father would have agreed.  He was given some seeds by someone saying they attract butterflies and birds.  They do, but they spread their seed with happy abandon.

All that was yesterday.  Today we have had almost everything weather-wise, including thunder and lightning, but every cloud has a silver lining.  Or a rainbow.