Despite the periodic downpours of rain this summer and the mournful cloud base that passes over  for days at a time even when the weather is quite hot. There is nothing the average wild plant likes better than to be warm and damp; everything that is not eaten is growing well. There seems to be a lack of some fruit this year I have heard but other wise it is all happening.

Hay Harvesting, The Modern Way
Now-a-days it is easy, not that some of my friends would agree; easier perhaps, but not easy.
The seasons seemed more set when I was young; it still rained in the summer to the annoyance of Mr Moss the Bailiff (foreman, or Manager in modern parlance) who one year was trying to gather hay in. Every morning and all day it was fine and sunny but in the evening when we went to gather it in it rained; this happened for nearly a week (early 1950s). Very late June and all of July were usually Haymaking time. In those days although much machinery was used as an aid, it was still labour intensive to a large degree. Modern rotary mowers on the back of a tractor move faster and need less maintenance that the old ones. Once cut, the hay is left to dry out for a day (if the weather is hot) and then turned and left again to dry that which was underneath. If all has gone well up to this point the hay is then bailed, loaded onto a cart and removed to a barn.

We have seen young foxes crossing the road in the evenings, or more often, a pair of eyes shining back at us in the car at night. I do not think that they understand cars or the danger from them as they move very lazily across the road in front of us. Otherwise the animal kingdom has been busy, like the birds, feed their young.

The Sparrow Hawks have been very active lately a pair of them flying together over the water meadows constantly screaming to each other. The nest is not so near us now but we still hear the mewing of the chicks; it is a busy time for the parents trying to keep up with the constant demands for food.

Owls have young to feed and are around during the day as they have owlets to feed. A tawny owl was seen picking up a young squirrel. It was as heavy as he could carry and he only just managed to get into flight. The normal prey is small rodents.

A small bird has been chirping almost constantly non-stop in the garden for the last two weeks. At first I thought it was a long tailed tit but we came to the conclusion that it was a chiff chaff, recently fledged.

Butterflies we have seen in the countryside are the Cabbage White, Brimstone and the Peacock which are  almost certainly the second brood for this year; a lot of Meadow Browns and Commas as well. I also saw a Holly Blue, which is very difficult to spot, just a flash of blue.
A rare find was a small copper butterfly seen in the field. It is a tiny bright butterfly and it loves to feed on meadow flowers. A terracotta brown coloured caterpillar was found in a large pot that holds a Passionflower plant. It came to the surface when I was watering the plant one evening; It was 1-2 inches long and had a projection at the rear end. When I touched it, it sprang around like a coiled spring. I am pretty sure it is a moth caterpillar as they are usually much bigger and fatter than the butterfly caterpillars.
We spent a while looking for clues to this caterpillar and have decided it is a Bedstraw Hawk-Moth, a summer visitor from the continent but we are told that sightings are rare. The BBC via the internet says the Hawk-Moth is known to hover like a humming bird while gathering nectar. So now you know.