Rain in England this Summer
It’s good for ducks!
So much for the Summer of barbeques, heatwaves and water bans as predicted by the Met Office. Now they are refusing to predict the weather beyond a two week period. What a cop out! I can do better than that…write the next four weeks off and book your holiday in September instead.
We have had an incredible amount of rain and despite my garden looking in fine fettle as a result it has severley hampered what little free time I have had. It’s not all bad news though, rain water provides invaluable drinking water for wildlife and I have enjoyed watching Siskins, Pied Wagtails and Yellowhammers making the most of generous puddles in rain soaked country lanes.
Here’s a Redshank I spotted wandering around in the ‘floods’, they love wetlands for their food source of tadpoles, earthworms, insects and small frogs. Their breeding season has now finished so watch out for them incubating their eggs because now is the ideal time. Redshanks nest on the ground and are easily identified by their long bright legs.
So make the most of the rain, there’s no point moaning about it, hopefully it will help us regain the Ashes 
Enjoy the rest of your Summer and if you live in England be thankful you don’t have those terrible bush fires to contend with in the way the Americans, Australians and now our European neighbours have. Nature at its near worst.
Redshank
It’s the only downside of living in England !
It’s not so much the rain itself but the unpredictability of the weather.
I’m looking out my window now at 7.15am and it looks glorious - I fancy a day out somewhere but will I get a soaking later ?
My kitchen garden looks the better for it though
Cheers
Rod
July 31, 2009 @ 7:17 am
Miles,
I like this photo - the anticipation of the Redshank hoping to make a catch. The reflection and the water - a moment captured.
Anne
July 31, 2009 @ 8:06 pm
Rod,
Hear what you’re saying, my garden is sprouting mushrooms
Miles
July 31, 2009 @ 11:30 pm
Anne,
Thank you, it was lovely to watch him taking a few tentative steps. Quite special really.
Miles
July 31, 2009 @ 11:31 pm
We have had many hot summers in the past with hardly any rainfall. Bearing in mind the fact thats what summer should be like. in 2003 britain saw its highest temperature yet of 38 celseus. we used to have weeks upon weeks of good weather with just 1 or 2 thunderstorms at the end, then it was sunny again. That is how summer should be like. Since 2007 when the worst floods for years arrived at britain no summer has been decent. we have seen weeks and weeks of intermittent rain and showers and just a few days of sunshine. not many people seem to realize but these floods dont just come for no reason. It could very well be an act of climate change and the fact that 3 summers in a row have been dissapointing this shows that this sort of weather could be the new summer. There are monsoons, earthquakes and tsunamis happening all over the world and i dont like seeing britians climate change either. the government dont seem to reveal that any of these world events point to climate change.
August 16, 2009 @ 11:09 pm
Harvey,
Welcome to the site and thank you for commenting. You raise some interesting and valid points, Summers in England are certainly nothing like those that I remember from the Seventies and Eighties. There has to be, as you suggest a reason behind that.
Miles
August 17, 2009 @ 10:17 pm