Aftermath...

Most of today was spent completing yesterday's grassland survey. It was warm and sunny, and thankfully quite a bit less windy. The last two areas we had to visit were both in locked compounds. We were sent off with seven keys to try - and none of them fitted!! Pete climbed over the rather tall gates, but I just noted down the plants I could see through the wire fence. I was a bit worried that if I managed to get in, I'd never get out again!

Then back to supervise revision. Alex has his last psychology exam tomorrow morning, and then I've agreed to take him shopping in Cambridge as he's running out of clothes, and is going to Dorset for the weekend!

I had a short bit of 'me' time in the late afternoon, before preparing the evening meal, so took the camera out into the garden to seek a blip. We've a family of great tits foraging in the garden at the moment, and I had hoped to capture them, but the light levels had dropped so much that it just wasn't possible. I also tried some bees but the same problem applied!

I have to say that at the moment I find the garden quite depressing. The prolonged drought is really having an effect now. Many of the herbaceous plants and even some shrubs are visibly wilting, and even those that are still flowering look sad. The lawn has turned almost completely brown - I've never known that to happen in May before. I still have vegetables to plant out, but the soil is so dry.

In the end, I felt that this poppy seed head summed up the state of things - all the petals blown off by the recent gale, and the soft brown of droughted vegetation visible in the background.