Feeling guilty about my lack of progress in July and my battle with the heat, I woke up determined to walk longer than I did yesterday and make sure I monitored myself. I stuffed ice packs into my top and pockets - anyone walking by might have thought I was an unusual sight. My camera was playing up in the heat, and my monitoring devices struggled to operate today when I found myself in direct sunlight. I was a proper sweaty betty! However, the bird songs and diversity I encountered were worth the discomfort.
Accessibility, Graffiti, Litter, Safety & Navigation: A dry and warm, slightly fresher Saturday. The stretch beside the Forty Hall pig farm, which was very muddy and poorly drained in May, is now completely dry and easy to cross. The cracks and large roots I reported then are still there, and on hard ground they are more of a trip hazard, not less.
Dead Wood & Falling Trees: Happy to report the chopped wood debris reported in May has been cleared and the rope swings on the older trees have been taken down. However, a few leaning trees still need to be addressed and pose a hazard to walkers.
Biodiversity: The Forty Hall waterways are bone dry, so I was very surprised to see so much birdlife in the canopy. After a month with next to no rain, the grassland is parched, and the older trees are showing early leaf drop from heat stress. The berries, however, are early this year but showing signs of environmental stress. Prolonged heatwaves and dry soil trigger a survival response in plants like blackberries and hawthorn, forcing them to fruit and seed early. Berry shrubs enter a "live fast, die young" mode to complete their reproductive cycle when water is scarce. Under the canopy, it was very busy with birds today, all mingling together with their young.
