The land finally got its first drink of water. Here on The Lizard, it came slowly bit by bit, allowing it to sink into earth and make itself ready to receive the downpours.  We were lucky, there were no run offs and no flooding, unlike other parts of the country, but most of the  month continued to experience high temperatures and the fourth officially named heatwave of the year. More weather records were broken; it was the fourth warmest August on record with rainfall well below average and the summer of 2026 was the warmest on record.  As a result of this dryness and warmth, wildfires continued to pop up all over Britain, Cornwall was put into drought measures and the rivers became as low as I’ve ever seen. On the coast, the waterfalls that usually cascade over the edge of the cliffs onto the beaches, completely dried up – not a trickle.

The garden was as quiet as July on the birdsong.  In notes from the RSPB, they give two main reasons for this: firstly in areas with farming, the Finches, Starlings and House sparrows all move out into the fields to feast on the grain before it is harvested. And secondly, after breeding is over the birds start to moult, ( which can take a few weeks), whilst this is going on they are less able to escape their predators, and as a precaution they take to hiding themselves as much as possible.  The end result of this means they disappear from our view and we hear much less singing.

The small songbirds may have gone into hiding but I caught sight of a Heron on two separate occasions in the early hours of the morning. As I wandered over the top of the field, the Heron comes into sight, rising out of the woods and above the trees tops at the bottom of the field by the river. They are silent and graceful and it is always a delight to witness. The Herons are known to nest all along the creek on the way to the Helford and the river here is part of that creek. An even more rare visitor took me by surprise one morning – I was sitting in a small and secret clearing down by the river, when I heard a bit of a crash landing in the tree by my side.  I looked up to find a Barn Owl staring straight at me, less than two metres from where I sat. It stayed for several minutes whilst I attempted some kind of a converstion with it, the Owl wasn’t interested but it continued to stare at me. Maybe I had strayed, unwittingly into the Owl’s secret place. It was an extraordinary sight, to be so close and also for it to be in daylight hours.  Owls were also spotted at dusk on a few evenings, circling the open field for their supper. We used to have a Barn Owl in the large barn across the yard but a couple of years ago it disappeared.  We have no idea if it died – we never found any remains – or if it just moved to a quieter residence. We do still catch regular sightings of Owls and we certainly hear them, as they meet with each other in the trees by the side of our house, right next to the bedroom window.  I’ve always liked to hear them calling to each other but certain guests haven’t always appreciated the late night screeching and hooting.

In the field, the grasses turned from bleached white to a more golden colour and the dried thistles took on a honey tone with their white puffs of seeds. They looked glorious and alongside them lay the large Dock leaves, turning a crimson red as the Autumnal colours came early from too much sun. A huge colony of Fleabane – the bright yellow variety – has taken up residence in amongst the dying Hemlock Water-dropwort.  Apparently it grows best in ‘wet, marshy ground’ and that is exactly what we have by the river. Back in the day it was famous for its ability to ward off fleas.  Throughout its history it has been burnt, brewed and dried for various medicinal and environmental reasons, in particular as an insect repellant, but also as food for Bees, Dragonflies and Damselflies. In the USA Fleabane is loathed by councils and also by regional governments all over the world because it is glycophosphate resistant. And so, it must be killed.  Honestly you couldn’t make this stuff up and as far as I’m concerned it gets free rent from me.