Dafad's-Days: INCESSANT WET STUFF!

The weather over the last few days has been changeable ... to say the least. We have had rain (again) thunderstorms (rain with surround sound), light drizzle (very lightweight rain) brief hailstorms (frozen rain) and brief spells of sunshine ... but with winds (heavy to light). Just as I type this, the news is telling us that this is the strangest weather on record since 1830! So at least it is not just me that is "blethering on" about this years weather. Yesterday was too bad to venture out. result one very unhappy dog! Add to that the fact that Dafad here was suffering from some brief but debilitating bug ... meant no post.

Now I don't mean The Royal Mail type of post ... bless our posties who have to face all types of weather conditions in order to deliver our mail, they do a grand job! But yesterday there was very little to "Blog" about. Dafad here had a bit of a bug and the mad mutt just couldn't understand why he could not get out to explore. Result ... one depressed dog! He huffed and he puffed and displayed all the symptoms of a really fed up dog.

For the blog I have had to rely on photo's from a few days before (and not the best at that) but a species I have missed this year ... The Carline Thistle. In past years, I have found it everywhere, it has been a delight to seen with it's bright yellow flowers, not this year. It is almost like an everlasting flower, seeming mature before its time. When all around may seem drowned by rain it stands out. Sadly this years specimens have been few and far in-between and another I have missed this year is a tiny campanula, that usually grows in one specific area. and I mean tiny (blink and you miss it) under two inches small. It is off the regularly beaten track of local walkers and I have seen it nowhere else.

The best identification I can find is Whalenburgia hederacea, what a long latin name for such a tiny bell shaped flower. The lovely, delicate harebell is in this group and of those this year I have only seen a few >>>
and not the best photograph I've had of it this year, taken on yet another very rainy day. I have even missed, as I'm sure the bees have, one of the pests of the commons, thistles. They are, no doubt about it an uncomfortable species to have to live with but they provided flowers for all sorts of insects. Yet another flower missing this year, were foxgloves much loved too by bees, I saw very few of them this year. And as for bees, I have in the past few years, identified several different species, the same applies to butterflies and moths but not this year. On our area of commons alone, last year I saw fox moth caterpillars in their abundance, this year I have seen only three. Of fungi this year I have seen but a few edible let alone inedible specimens

the above being one of the few, a tiny example of finger like fungus amongst the recently fallen beech leaves. Even the beech trees this year have given us a very poor display of autumnal colour, though some seem to be trying their best, it has been a disappointing show. So far this year, the more obvious pointers to the changes in the seasons have been. quite literally, a wash out. There is a saying in cricket ... "Rain stops play." Well this year, the very wet conditions have affected so many normalities to be found in our seasons. In brief, so far this year it has been an almost total wash out. I pity the farmers across the whole of U.K who have tried to cope with these unseasonal variations in climate change. Today I saw a mixture of Welsh and Texel sheep on local farm land, a brief window in the ever changing weather, a moment of calm conditions, even some sunshine, a feeling of serenity, a chance to catch up with a local farmers news .