Outdoors Les Davies MBE

West Countryman’s diary

INTOJuly and while writing for the August edition, I am looking out of the window from my desk as the rain comes down. An icon on the tool bar at the bottom of the computer screen is also telling me it’s raining. What more do I need to know?

A lifetime of looking at the natural world for an indication of the weather is no longer needed, neither are the many anecdotes such as “if you can see Wales from Black Down it’s going to rain… if you can’t, it’s raining already”.

This normally gets a groan from those I tell them to, but there are many sayings that are misconstrued or are only half right. Cattle will turn their backs to the coming weather, but when they lie down that is not a certain sign of rain on the way.

Pine cones will close up, but this is as a reaction to the damp conditions and not a sign of rain to come. We humans can also sense a change in the weather. Many people suffer physical discomfort with a drop in air pressure.

Check your barometer the next time you are feeling a bit “under the weather”. It might hold some clues and point the way towards “meteorosensitivity” a complaint that we still have a lot to learn about.

The list of natural indicators, or of perceived natural indicators over the years, has been added to or distorted. What I will say is that meteorology has become far more accurate as advances in science have provided better tools. My computer icon now tells me that the rain is going to stop and it has!

Can I believe that I was talking about sheltering from the sun in last month’s column? No doubt we will be doing so again, but at the moment it’s low pressure in control. Everything in the countryside is green and lush. I can’t remember seeing so much grass in the fields which, with good harvesting conditions, will be needed through the coming winter (no predictions being made).

Gardens have also been grateful for rain and my vegetable patch looks better than it has been for quite a while. New potatoes are my dream crop and this year even though they went in late the reward is still worthwhile. Garden peas and green beans help my vegetable intake, which I must admit is somewhat limited outside of sprouts.

Longer days mean a better chance for an evening walk if you are someone with a “real job” that takes up your time. If it has been hot during the day, evening temperatures are a welcome relief from the relentless sun. Sunsets in this part of the world are always spectacular if the weather is set fine for the following day.

Watching the sun going down is for me quite a melancholy event. The passing of another day and whilst there have undoubtedly been days in my life that I would not want to live through again, it can lead to moments of reflection. It is also a time when the sky can become filled with wonder.

Watch the sun as it slowly sinks and then see how quickly it disappears below the horizon. For someone living on the other side of the world a new day is about to begin, but for us the afterglow remains in the west, illuminating clouds that can look like a mountain range or lake shore where the water is dotted with small islands.

Like faces in the trees, this is where my mind runs away with me to escape from the real world. Such fantasy worlds as are created by these sunsets captivate me and unlike the moving, fickle shapeshifting daytime clouds, these hold the form into which they have morphed. Yes… This is true escapism, no “X” box, no computer screen, you just need a gate to lean on and it’s all free!

If there is one good thing to come out of the recent pandemic, it’s that people have started to discover their surrounding

With LES DAVIES MBE

countryside. Families have been out and about on the hill and elsewhere often, I am pleased to say, with a copy of the walking book Mendipity in their hand, or a copy of Sue Gearing’s latest walk from Mendip Times.

Having been somewhat scathing about technology in the preceding paragraph, I have to admit the number of “Apps” available to help you identify plants seems rather useful. Plant identification, like any other tool, becomes better the more you use it.

These tools however take a lot of the frustration out of identification, when everyone looks at the plant uttering such phrases as: “I know it but can’t think of it at the moment” or: “I’m pretty certain it’s so and so”. When the mobile phone delivers the App’s final verdict, arms go up in the air with expressions of relief such as: “That’s it, I thought it might be!”

When they really had no idea in the first place!

This month’s photo is for me a classic. If you think you’ve got problems, then look at what someone else is dealing with! Amongst my many “Lesisms” is a description of engineering accuracy that relates to the fit of one piece of work with another. Engineers work to very fine tolerances measured in thousanths of an inch (old money that is).

In the countryside I refer to “agricultural tolerances” which could be plus or minus anything. Take a look at this gate on the moors. Now I am not suggesting for one moment that’s how it was originally fitted, the post has leant over. It’s the other gate used to close the gap and the string used to secure it as a method of correction that interests me.

Long live individuality!