Phenology - August

August brings the sheaves of corn*,

Then the harvest home is borne.

*wheat, to you 'Muricans.

Appropriately enough (though it doesn't say much about my speed), my phenology exercise this year has finally caught up on my writing, so I've actually been writing about August in Lover's Wheel during August. Which prompts me to -

ARGH! - WHERE DOES THE TIME GO?  IT'S NEARLY AUTUMN!

The horse chestnuts - usually first out in leaf, and first to shed - are just starting to turn

Yes, the lawn has stopped growing and foliage is no longer the priority for plants. They are thinking about SEED instead. By the end of August, sloes are ripening on the blackthorn bushes:

Prepare the gin!!

... Hawthorn berries on the may hedges:

.... Rosehips on the dog roses:

Blackberries on the bramble bushes:

And berries on the rowan tree:

And the elder:

It is a veritable fruit pie in the making! Just don't add cuckoo pint,... because it'll kill you (through asphyxiation, unusually - it makes the throat lining swell up horribly).

"Pint" means "penis," btw. Dirty botantists.

There are still plenty of flowers around though ... The verges in Scotland, I noticed, are bilious with ragwort:

Poisonous, particularly to horses

And bindweed tries to look lovely and tropical in order to distract you from the fact it's smothered every damn thing in your garden:

And in the uplands and heaths, this is the time of year the heather is in bloom:

August makes me hungry. Luckily, as all will agree, fruit you pick while walking contains no calories :-)