ST SWITHIN’S feast day has been and gone and it definitely gave us the right message this year, 40 days of all kinds of weather, writes Hugh Besent.

Since then we have indeed had everything but snow. In fact, for the first three weeks in July, we have recorded seven dry days and 14 wet days.

Luckily, we managed to finish the third cut of silage just in time.

The pit is now full for another year, and with plenty of hands on deck, it was covered up just as the rain fell.

Sadly, it seems this year that it has paid to be able to make our own winter rations, as agricultural contractors have been under a lot of pressure to get around everyone in time.

On a positive note, some of our dairy cows are out of their lockdown. They are enjoying their staycation on the beach, with only a few paddle-boarders and boats to disturb them. A quarter of the herd are now dried off with the rest to follow shortly. They have at least six weeks dry before we hopefully start calving in September.

Staycations seem to be the norm this year. We have suddenly had a few walkers on our path but the more popular paths in the area have become very busy indeed.

This has resulted in the commonly reported spike in rubbish strewn in lanes and fields alike.

It is incredible that some people, who clearly enjoy the countryside and love nature, have this inability to respect it.

As we look forward to August, one can but guess what weather it will bring.

The weather is our most popular subject once more.

Weather forecasters are clearly not the farmer’s friend this year as their high-tech systems seemed to be fairly wide of the mark in June and July.

Perhaps the map is the problem.

I’m sure it would help us all if we could see mid Wales clearly. We now seem to be completely obliterated by the word ‘Birmingham’ – is it a cover-up?