Summer days

So so busy, both at work and up the wood - just haven't had time to update anything! but basically the last month has seen a lot of rain, a lot of wind and even more sun, which has all resulted in monumental growth at Rais; the bracken is now 9 feet tall in places, the brambles are threatening to take over the clearing and the heavily-hacked Rhodies are already bouncing back with new growth! but on the bright side, the camera has caught some new visitors in the form of foxes, a scruffy-looking juvenile pheasant (we think) and a very large Tawny owl.
The water mint has gone mad and smells gorgeous - haven't brewed any tea with it yet, but have plans to stay over next weekend and so may give it a go.
This weekend the boys stayed overnight through yet another torrential downpour but instead of making a temporary shelter, they created two more "A" frame beds with a tarp over top which was a huge improvement on the last experience for them.
The boys and I spent about 4 hours Friday afternoon turning sun-baked raw clay into something that resembles soggy modelling clay which will hopefully have dried out enough to use next weekend. As a result of pounding the clay by hand to break it up I now have extremely painful thumbs and have split the skin under my nails on just about every finger on both hands - not a good look for attendance at a big family wedding yesterday.
Rain (and of course the wedding hangover) stopped play today as hurricane "Bertha" skirted Sussex bringing strong winds and plenty of miserable drizzle. Thankfully we cleared the stream again under toad bridge and so things should flow freely once more. Hope to find time to start work on the upstream section next weekend which is overgrown with brambles and will require serious protective gear - it's only a short stretch, maybe 25 metres, to get round the corner to Holly bridge, but there's a large fallen dead Birch which will make life quite difficult until we can remove it.
Raymond (the landrover) has undergone some serious renovation over the last month with a repairs to rust holes, door frames and dashboard and a new paint job.

I have started to try and take note of the butterflies I see too, not an easy task as they never keep still for very long in the sunshine and of course they don't come out in the rain. This first one is a Meadow Brown (Maniola jurtina) and was in and around the thistles where I park the car.
So from my pocket guide to butterflies of Britain and Ireland, I can tell you that you won't find this particular species in the Shetland Islands, it has a long flight period, and the first males start to appear in May - most abundantly around the chalk downlands of Sussex. We should see them well into October and they are one of the few butterflies that can also been seen flying on overcast days. They also like to feed on bramble flowers which explains why I have seen so many at Rais.