AUGUST is a time of plenty, when gardens are in full bloom and the combines are rolling across local farmland.
It’s ironic that in recent years Britain’s farmers have an unlikely source to thank for thousands of us watching those crops being harvested with a more knowledgable eye.
Who would have thought that Jeremy Clarkson would end up as something of an agricultural hero, introducing a whole new generation of TV viewers to the trials and tribulations of farming life?
Yet amid all the mysterious talk about spring beans and winter wheats, moisture content and disappointing yields, four series of Clarkson’s Farm have offered some unexpectedly revealing insights after Jeremy took personal charge of running the 1,000-acre Cotswolds farm near Chipping Norton that he bought back in 2008.
And despite all the hapless bumbling and frustrated swearing at the continual setbacks, we were treated to a warm-hearted gem of a series that potentially taught us more about farming than any other agricultural programme on the box.
From cultivation to harvest, misty dawn starts to exhausted night shifts, the series introduced us to Clarkson as we have never seen him before, in a world where failures have real emotional and financial consequences.
The whole experience has changed his outlook too, he confesses. He told monthly magazine Farmers Guide back in 2021: “I get annoyed with what people think about farming. It’s either the huge barns in Texas where they brutally grow pigs or cows, or Kate Humble with a freshly scrubbed baby lamb on a clean bed of hay. Farming is somewhere in between.
“Farmers are trying to fill the supermarket shelves with cheap good food, and at the same time look after the countryside.
“Every one of them I talk to is responsible and doing this all the time, despite what is going on with Covid, Brexit or idiotic political decisions.
“We should give farmers a lot more respect. We’re all eating what they produced.”
The majority of Chilterns crops are cereals like wheat and barley, used in a variety of foodstuffs from bread, cakes and biscuits to beer and whisky and part of the farmed landscape’s familiar patchwork of seasonal shades.
But there are glorious splashes of colour too, from sunflowers to poppies, from linseed and borage to oilseed rape, with its distinctive yellow flowers and pungent aroma.
Those colours form part of a rich landscape famous for its windswept downlands, ancient woods, clear chalk streams and flower-filled meadows, home to a huge array of wildlife and plants.
Stretches of chalk grassland and pockets of ancient heathland offer habitats that are both rare and fragile, where butterflies dance in the breeze and lizards and snakes bask in the sun.
From the purple and yellow of heather and gorse on the heath to those glorious glimpses of butterflies and moths in the woods, this is a time of year when the countryside echoes to the buzz of insects and chirrup of crickets.
And above it all, from the cherry orchards to the sundrenched vineyards, the whistles of red kites are a welcome reminder of how birds which had become virtually extinct by the end of the 19th century have become commonplace in the Chilterns again.
The birds are a favourite with photographers for their acrobatics and agility, as well as their glorious colours.
In Wales, the kite is a national symbol of wildlife and was even voted the country’s favourite bird in a public poll.
While the arable farmers are busy with haymaking and silage collection, insects, birds and baby mammals are abundant too, the annual wildlife population at its highest this month, even if the birds are too busy moulting to make much noise.
Lambs born in the spring are back out in the fields, baby squirrels are beginning to put on weight and fox cubs are out playing and learning how to hunt as dusk falls.
Shy deer are losing their hiding places among the ripe crops as the combines gather in the grain and there’s a definitely chill in the morning and evening air that hints at the start of a new season, even if we are hoping there are plenty of sultry September days still to enjoy.
According to meteorologists, August 31 marks the end of summer, although it’s too early for the real golds, reds and browns of autumn.
The start of the month saw the annual Big Butterfly Count organised by Butterfly Conservation, and although it’s too early for this year’s results, there have been widespread concerns about the long-term trends.
As well as forming a vital part of the food chain, butterflies and moths are considered significant indicators of the health of the environment.
As we mentioned last month, the UK has 59 species of butterflies – 57 resident species and two regular migrants (the painted lady and clouded yellow). Moths are much more numerous, as our 2021 post explained – and they can be equally colourful.
One of the most common and distinctive is the six-spot burnet moth, one of half a dozen similar species in the UK but the only burnet moth with six red spots on its long, narrow, glossy black wings.
Other common August sightings include the comma, painted lady, common blue and small tortoiseshell.
But getting close enough to picture these fluttering beauties clearly poses its own challenges, of course.
Close-up photography is a must to capture the small and intricate details of insects, using a macro lens and possibly a tripod.
But it takes patience to capture that perfect moment when an insect lands on a colourful flower and stays still long enough not to be an indistinct blur.
Flying insects provide even more of a challenge, with photographers needing to choose a fast shutter speed or use flash to freeze the action.
Despite the difficulties, wildlife photography brings plenty of rewards too, not least the opportunity to immerse yourself in the natural world and explore new surroundings.
For some, it’s not just a technical challenge but the opportunity to capture a pose that conveys the character or behaviour of the bird or insect.
For others the excitement lies in the juxtaposition of sunlight and shadow, or a dramatic contrast in textures.
But even if you don’t have the skill or equipment to capture an elusive weasel at dusk or a restless butterfly fluttering, just getting out and about in the summer countryside with a Smartphone is bound to offer some photographic possibilities.
Those glorious sunsets and the textures of stone against the greenery, scudding clouds or the gnarled bark of an ancient tree trunk…
September is a big month for bird migration, with the British Isles a crossroads for millions of arrivals and departures, but the first to head south are already on the move in August.
Swallows, house martins and swifts are all migratory birds that winter in Africa. Swallows and house martin arrive back in the UK in late March to early April and leave again in September to October, but the swifts are first to leave, and young swallows and house martins are honing their flying skills and enjoying the abundance of insects before joining the exodus.
Other food is plentiful too, from bilberries and crabapples to wild damsons and mushrooms, ensuring a fertile feast for many species of birds, especially those eager to gorge on berries before their long migration.
Across the Chilterns, it still feels as if summer is with us, but this is a time when the leaves are beginning to dry out on plants and trees, flowers are fading and days are becoming shorter.
Whisper it quietly, but autumn is sneaking quietly in. We haven’t had the dramatic drop in temperature yet or the growing awareness that the leaves are beginning, ever so gradually, to change colour.
But it won’t be long, so enjoy the September sunshine while you can, before autumn finally makes its presence felt.
As always, we’d like to give a very big thank you to all the keen local photographers who have allowed us to use their work. If you would like to contribute any pictures, favourite moments or seasonal suggestions to future calendar entries, contact editor@thebeyonder.co.uk on email or via our Facebook group page.
