SUMMER BEGINS

The spring has sprung off, the grass has riz ... I wonder where the sunshine is?

Well I can say, that today, the first day of Summer here is ... bright sunshine and dry, and as I sit here typing this, I'm having my back pipe looked through with a large camera by three guys in bright yellow gear. Now before you  lot start thinking it's a medical problem, it is quite simply Welsh Water drilling a new pipeline along the backs of our houses. Fair play to the original pipe layers, the system has lasted 100 years. You can just see the new pipe emerging and as I took this their camera was about to come through. They now have to make a new connection to the one coming from next door. What a noisy way to start our day, so earlier we escaped out into the fresh air and the sunshine of the mountain where the new growth is greening up the moorland and the heather is just beginning to blush pale pink in great swathes a sure sign that summer is "officially" here.

<<< This gives you an idea of the extent of The Commons, a total of 3000 acres of which our area is officially about half that, but no fence divides the line, only the boundaries. There are few broadleaved trees but the area encompasses large stands of conifers, mainly Scots Pine. But in years gone by there were divisions as can be seen by evidence of very old stone walls, the remains of which can only just be seen. In the scene below, an old wall turns a corner, not so easy to see in this photograph.

It comes down from top left where a few old stones can still  be seen and then turns to the right just about here
<<<
There are also sad remnants of small old dwellings, now just piles of overgrown stones, once homes.

There are also natural outcrops like the one above where one can see strange shapes ...

If you take a closer look you can see the layers now splitting apart as frost, thaw action and driving winds force the old large, now lichen covered boulders to slowly disintegrate, forming niches for shelter loving plants and insects. I find them fascinating unlike the mad mutt, who ... whilst I am engrossed in my photography
amuses himself with old beech sticks, nosing them up into the air.

Today it really did feel as if summer has arrived but having just looked at the weather forecast for the week ahead ... I don't think that the hay harvest will start just yet as it usually does at this time of year ... because the weathermen tell us we're in for more rain!!

Oh well at least the ferns will be happy!