Local patch 44

Midsummer's day has passed and, meteorologically speaking, it's all downhill now! These are peaceful days of plenty. Hedgerows are buzzing and thrumming. Soft evenings are spiked with the scent of Dog rose and Honeysuckle. In the fruit garden we gather a quick harvest of early berries and  currants, but there is plenty to share with the birds. The last rhubarb goes into a cheesecake with ginger biscuit base and the house is sweet with jam making.  I love the rows of jewel bright jars, stacked and labelled: summer bottled for another year. On a short, dark day later in the year, we will crack open a jar and let the sunshine spill out, full of lazy promise.

  

Local Patch 43

Last week, it felt like a second chance spring up on the high ground. Hedgerow flowers, that have already flushed, finished and been forgotten down here in the lowlands, are in full force further north. We enjoyed again the primrose and the bluebell.

Back on the Levels, summer is surging forward, relentlessly. Swallows and Martins have nests full of young and the old walnut tree is full of fledgling Great tits. They creep around the bark and practise with their pale, perfect wings.

School life has an innate rhythm too. it is palpable in the dust of the classrooms: one final push. Keep going everyone, nearly there. History speeds up and there is not enough time to fit everything in. There are exams to take and exams to mark; sports days and singing competitions; field trips and reports; prize giving and prize getting; speeches, gowns and clapping. It is bittersweet and a time for looking forward. We say goodbye and good luck and well done. We watch them flex their new, perfect wings. Fly guys, don't look back!