hedgesbackward

@fci_clare Very pleased for you, hope you get enough.

@rossalcroft North Northumberland here - finally rain has arrived.

Rogart: 7.19am. After the rain. The hay park sparkles & swallows swoop low catching breakfast. Good morning.

@fci_clare It is the north of Scotland.

@rossalcroft You had rain ! Must be great.

Rogart: The wind keeps blowing. It's beyond getting on my nerves. The constant noise. Willow branches are bent at wrong angles or snapped off entirely. However, because the wind was so noisy it didn't hear me coming, I met a young lapwing up close. (It pretended to be a stone).

@fci_clare It's one of these (a more cooperative specimen from the other day).

@rossalcroft Lovely pics . Not sure I know what a ringlet is ?

Rogart: 10am. Blustery. Big cloud shadows move fast along the strath. Small birds blow about. The hay park sorrel is full of goldfinches. Hogweed is busy with insects. Down the croft, many butterflies, today, mainly ringlets, none willing to pose. Cuckoo spit is on everything...

Rogart: A meadow pipit’s nest. Hidden in the moss & heather outside the gate…

Rogart: 1.30pm. The wind is whipping across the hay park. Grasses shimmer in waves, bending & rippling ahead of me. The hoggs scatter & run as I approach. They've known me all of their lives & see me every day, but the wind makes them spooky. Swallows swoop low with extra speed.

Rogart: A walk up the hill. In the Loch of lost pants (long story) water lilies bloom, leaves lifting in waves in the wind. On the track, nests of debris made by this morning’s heavy rain & green larch saplings. Roots under water in the lochan, looking like a tangle of antlers…

@SarahLouisaColl It hasn't been that hot here, so it was a surprise. It's over now, birds are singing again.

@rossalcroft Same here and only just got to sleep about 4am because of it being so hot; not a good night.

Rogart: 6.30am. Woken by thunder, lightning flashes through closed eyes & rain bouncing in through the open window. The sheer volume of water coming out of the sky is incredible. It is lying in ever growing puddles which join, submerging grass. The first noisy storm in a while...

Rogart: Solstice dawns grey & breezy, mist is blowing in. It’s not quite what I expected, especially after yesterday’s heat. I’ve caught a cold & that brings on thoughts of days getting shorter. I shouldn’t be thinking of winter. Red & white campion & ragged robin are everywhere.

Rogart: Solstice eve. A day where sheep sought shade. Now it is grey & breezy. I brought a newly hatched ghost moth inside so she wouldn't be eaten by hens. I watched her unfurl. Recently I have found lots of white wings in the hay park (the males are white & fly in groups)...

Rogart: 9am. 19 degrees already. It's a beautiful day. Behind the ruin, swallows are swooping in & out of the one tiny window hole. Self seeded foxgloves, ivy & honeysuckle (brought home from local walks) climb. The first apples are growing on a small tree I raised from a pip...

@fci_clare I think she only came into the shed so she could shake herself off right next to me...

@rossalcroft Envy you the rain . Glad pensioner had enough sense to get out of it.

Rogart: 6.12pm. Sheltering in the shed waiting for a torrential downpour to pass. I could see it coming from the west. The Pensioner eventually joined me & there was a hen laying an egg in the straw bale next to me. The rain was so heavy it was bouncing up off the ground...

Rogart: Looking to the west across the hay park which is rippling in the wind. The sky is threatening rain. I found the reason why I've only had about 4 eggs in the last 2 days. Every day is a game of hide & seek (dratted birds). In the big ditch, yellow flag iris is flowering.

Rogart: Fine rain at bedtime, turned everything blue green silver. Droplets of water haloing & drooping plants in the still light of short nights. (I fall asleep to almost daylight). Morning across the hay park. My wellies stuck with grass pollen. The air smells of elderflowers…

@fci_clare Thankfully, she's the only bottle lamb this year. She's staying with the flock so she learns to be a sheep & has playmates, (though pet lambs are never quite 'normal' sheep). She's not too much work. You're right, she is very sweet & it's not her fault that her Ma is a baggage.

@rossalcroft She looks so sweet, but it must add to your work

Rogart: One of the first jobs in the morning is bottle breakfast for Betty. (Smaller twin whose Ma can only count to 1, despite my best efforts). Betty stays in the park with the rest of the flock. She plays with the lambs. She comes running when she hears the gate latch squeak.