It's becoming kind of a semi-permanent pattern of late that we forego our usual afternoon ravine walk, swapping it for an early morning amble through forest trails in the ravine. When afternoon temperature rises to 35C, it's time to admit that this is just too enervating to head out for an hour or so, even into a forest landscape where the leafy canopy does its best to throw sufficiently dense shade to shut out the sun's burning rays these days.

Of course, on the positive side we can't complain that there's no windy relief, since there is. On the other hand, with an overheated atmosphere any breeze that happens along moves that overheated air, not cool air. Relief is temporary and more imagined than real. In the morning, however, the presence of that brisk wind does make a cooling difference.

An overheated atmosphere, little standing water from rain on the forest floor and brisk breezes represent a mosquito-repelling formula. There have been very few of those pests about the past three weeks or so, even though prevailing heat and humidity ensure that we wear the lightest of all possible garments strolling about with bare arms and legs.

Out we were yesterday morning bright and early, hot and humid, with yes, a lovely brisk wind. Each of the days that succeed one another becomes warmer than the previous. The clay base of the forest floor is cracking, desperate for moisture.

Even so, there's no dearth of wildflowers. Now that the Queen Anne's lace is flaunting its impressively decorative presence, the more restrained, yet similar yarrow is also in evidence. And yesterday for the first time we saw a lone but lovely little blue flower, a chicory wildflower. Although it will be just a little longer before the sunflowers which turn their bright faces to the sun unerringly, bloom there are exceptions to everything. They usually don't until early August, but several are opening and treating us with their golden bloom.

Though it's been a bumper year for berries this summer, for some odd reason the wild apple trees aren't burdened with many apples. They certainly flowered in the spring, but something must have happened to nip the incipient apples, a late frost, for there are few apples to be seen on trees that usually burst with them. And nor are the hazelnut shrubs producing much in the way of their fruit this summer.