Dry August

 

Leaves of Small-leaved Lime and English Elm. Frome, 16 August 2022.

Robinia seedling in a dry lawn. Frome, 5 August 2022.

A second brood: young larvae of the Large Rose Saw-fly (Arge pagana), feeding on a wild rose. Frome, 15 August 2022.

Housing estate verge with dropped leaves. Frome, 15 August 2022.

Verge with leaves of Italian Alder. Frome, 15 August 2022.

I've been doing some busking down by the river in Frome. Here are some of the tunes I've been playing. The links are to my Soundcloud recordings. 

The Weight                   (the Band's first single)

Always On My Mind    (late Elvis classic, but I learnt it from the Willie Nelson version)

Celluloid Heroes          (song by Ray Davies from about 1972)

You Don't Miss Your Water (I learnt this and the next two from the Byrds' "Sweetheart of the Rodeo")

You're Still On My Mind

Hickory Wind

Fryksdals Dans Nr 2            (Swedish dance tune: https://michaelpeverett.blogspot.com/2019/11/that-fryksdal-dance.html )

Så Länge Skutan Kan Gå     (by Evert Taube: https://michaelpeverett.blogspot.com/2018/04/evert-taube-sa-lange-skutan-kan-ga.html )

Sjösala Vals                          (by Evert Taube: https://michaelpeverett.blogspot.com/2017/09/evert-taube-sjosala-vals.html )

Summer Night                      (by Evert Taube, in my translation)

Calle Schewen's Waltz          (by Evert Taube, in my translation)

Sol, Vind Och Vatten            (by Ted and Kenneth Gärdestad: https://michaelpeverett.blogspot.com/2017/06/lyrics-by-kenneth-gardestad.html    )

Get Set For The Blues           (a jazz blues song I heard on Julie London's "About The Blues")

Marie                                      (by Randy Newman)

Please Help Me I'm Falling     (country standard by Don Robertson and Hal Blair, recorded by Hank Locklin and many others)

You Wear It Well                     (Rod Stewart classic)

America                                   (by Paul Simon:   https://michaelpeverett.blogspot.com/2019/07/signal-point.html )

Our Last Summer                    (the Abba number)

Baby I'm Feeling It Now           (my song)

Lay All Your Cards On The Table    (my song)

Wide Open Road                       (David McComb, from The Triffids' "Born Sandy Devotional")

Preludes in F, F# Minor, C Minor      (my compositions)

Cowboy Tune                            (tune with no real title -- my composition)

French Tune                               (ditto)

I Won't Let You Down                (by Albert Lee)

A Matter of Time                        (the Los Lobos song)

Kerb with elm leaves. Frome, 15 August 2022.

Housing estate. Frome, 16 August 2022.

English Elm. Frome, 20 August 2022.

Not Dutch Elm disease, in this case. Just a tree trying to keep going with a severe shortage of water.

Really big trees, with mysterious access to water, are doing OK (but still dropping leaves). It's the small trees and shrubs  that are most threatened. The young beeches near Sainsburys have dropped 80% of their leaves.

Beech leaves. Frome, 22 August 2022.

Cherry Laurel (Prunus laurocerasus). Trowbridge, 24 August 2022.

I was going to write that cherry laurels appear to be unaffected, and to comment on how well the glossy leaf surface reduces water loss. But then I caught sight of this specimen, in the sensory garden in Trowbridge. At least it's still alive, unlike two of its neighbours, a holly and a dogwood. 

Silver Lime pollards damaged by fire. Frome, 21 August 2022.