The meadows in the upper Yorkshire Dales are mown in mid-July. The early summer flower display of May and June have come to an end. The ground nesting birds have fledged; and the curlews have headed back to their coastal homes in Morecombe Bay and Ireland.

This summer there has been perfect weather for mowing. Whilst some parts of England have suffered in the heat wave, here in the Dales it has been glorious. On the 10th of July, in the early morning, the first tractors came out to start cutting the meadows. A day later they came back to turn the hay, and then a day or two later returned to bale it. 

There are a lot of meadows, so it takes a few weeks to get round all of them. The meadow by my house has only just been cut and turned, and I’ve been out in the garden this afternoon watching the bailer at work. 

It’s amazing how quickly it’s done. The meadow laid flat, then turned to dry in the sun, then gathered into long rows, and then bailed into big cylinders. Birds follow the tractors as they work, seagulls mostly, but also oyster catchers, pigeons and crows. A red kite flew over as I was watching. Flexing its wings to course over the field, hunting for whatever might be revealed.

The 15th July was St Swithin’s Day and it was a misty damp morning in contrast to the days of brilliant sunshine since haymaking started. I wondered if superstitious farmers were watching the mist to see if it would lift as there were still a lot of meadows to cut. As the saying goes:

"St Swithin's Day, if it does rain

Full forty days, it will remain

St Swithin's Day, if it be fair

For forty days, t'will rain no more"

The sun came out again, and the long-range forecast agrees with the rhyme, so it looks like it will be a while yet before we’ll get the steady rain needed to get the grass growing again. In the meantime, they’re making hay while the sun shines.

Do you know of any rhymes that predict future events? And do you like to make hay while the sun shines?

Rowan on the Moor

A Moodscope member