Tumbling Kites

Hissing of the summer lawns

Apart from Hazel Irvine's verbal inanities that trashed Elbow's contribution to the Olympic closing ceremony, Sunday turned out to be a very pleasant day indeed.

For the first time in ages the weather was decent and we headed off up the Meon Valley to see what's been unfolding in our absence. We pulled into the entrance to the Hampshire Hogs cricket pitch and there to greet us was a sky full of tumbling kites, buzzards and a raven - I've never seen thermals so full in my life! It is still joyous to see kites over a Hampshire downland and I doubt that this feeling will ever fade.

Onto a quick reconnoitre at the 'Big Field', to check the state of play there and at last the crops have been harvested. There was too much of a heat-haze to pick out any hare-bear-ears, so an early morning or evening visit is due soon.

Back to Beacon Hill. To walk out on chalk downland in full flower is a privilage and delight. Clustered bellflower, autumn gentian, marjoram, round-headed rampion, field scabious, eyebright, harebell all added to a wonderful mosaic of colours. Among the flowers, danced chalkhill blue and tiny brown argus butterflies, but sadly we couldn't locate any silver-studded skippers. I hope that we simply missed them and they have not been lost from this site.

Perhaps I should have allowed the mellowness of the day to continue back at home and extended Elbow's sentiment of 'open arms' to overactive gobs, but honestly why do they do it! I'm not normally grumpy.............really!