Wasps have taken over an old mouse hole in a bank at the end of the orchard and will have to be dealt with (any ideas?) before the fruit starts to ripen; the honeybees are nowhere to be seen despite the borage, one of their favourite flowers, being in full bloom.
Rather like the bees, trout have not crossed my path with any frequency this summer. My first outing was a disaster, when I came stone last in the famous one-fly competition; next up was F. M. Halford’s legendary beat on the River Test at Mottisfont, probably the single most hallowed slice of river in the world.
The mayfly were hatching, too. But, incredibly, the trout decided to eat something else. I never discovered what. Fortunately, a wonderful lunch at the Peat Spade, the best pub on the river, dulled the near panic at my inability to snag a trout. Then last week, I found myself in a boat on a lake with my dear old friend John Humphreys.
The conditions for fishing were dire under a blazing sun, but we caught half a dozen between us. Fishing is an enigma, but that is why we go fishing rather than catching.
-
The 10 most expensive postcodes in the country — and what you could get if you lived thereThe latest research on the most exclusive postcodes in England and Wales makes for eye-catching reading, with some areas having average property prices over £4m. Annabel Dixon breaks it down.
-
Britain's whale boom and and the predator that's far scarier than a great white shark, with wildlife cinematographer Dan AbbottThe wildlife cinematographer Dan Abbott joins us on the Country Life Podcast.
