How many adjectives can you
use for summer 2002?
By Mary Bichan
(From The Orcadian dated October 3, 2002)

One young Orcadian enjoying the glorious summer weather at the Bay of Skaill in Sandwick

Earlier this year, Mary Bichan from Harray wrote in praise of what has been a glorious summer. Here, she looks at the continuing good fortune we have had with our weather, right through harvest time.

Still it continues – our wonderful weather. Wonderful, glorious, golden, unbelievable, brilliant, amazing, fantastic, super are all adjectives that have been used in this year of 2002. We could probably add unforgettable because we do tend to store the memory of the exact time anything out of the ordinary happens. The years 1947 and 1955 were two such years that I remember and I believe that 1933 was another remarkable year, last century.

Global warming, people are calling it, but global warming and air pollution were never even thought of then. Although climate change is much discussed, there are signs that some weather lore is still worth heeding. We depend very much now on daily forecasts on television, radio or in the papers. They have not been all that accurate this year with plenty of wind and rain forecast, but it has passed to the south of us.

Sometimes, we have seen thick skies at the back of Hoy, which have receded again. My father used to say that was a sign of good weather. I well remember a winter day when the sky behind Hoy was dark and threatening and it was cold enough for snow. We spent all the hours of daylight tailing turnips, loading them into a horse cart and bringing them in until the turnip shed was full. Before darkness, the menace in the sky began to fade away. No snow or rain came after all. The work was not wasted. Although it had been a hard day, we didn’t have to worry about turnips again for a while.

A Birsay man says that the direction of the wind at twelve midnight on Hogmanay tells what the weather prospects are for the coming year. He went out as usual last Hogmanay and came in saying that it would be a good year. The wind was coming from the south.

Here we are with harvest finished at the end of September. Combines and balers have been cleaned, oiled and set past. Combining started early in August and some places were finished by the end of that month. Crops have been good and well ripened. Barley straw just needed a couple of days to be ready to bale and, where there was a ley crop, some straw was baled right after the combine. Since the ground is so dry, some ploughing is now being done.

Quite a lot of combining was done during the night. An evening dew comes down which, in certain conditions, dries off again around midnight. While we hope for dry harvesting, we have no idea how far away rain is, so advantage is taken of every dry moment.

For older people, harvest does not feel quite right without the fields full of tidy rows of stooks. We prefer to forget about the work needed to get these rows of stooked sheaves and how a good gale could scatter them and make more work. Later came the stackyards with the climax of the year’s work neatly stored in stacks. The stackyard was the object of much interest to neighbours and passers by. Part of a farmer’s standing depended on his ability to build straight stacks that would keep out water. Some had to resort to wooden props to keep their stacks upright and they were the recipients of some ridicule and sly remarks about woodyards.

Tatties are being lifted. There was very little blight about, so they are coming cleanly out of the dry earth. They are a splendid crop with many large tubers.

Flowers have had a wonderful time. They have blossomed on and on with no tiresome winds to blow them about and spoil their perfection. Gardens have had beautiful displays. Lately, dahlias, nearly always battered about, have been standing in stately splendour. covered in fine blooms.

So far, trees have been able to keep their leaves. Maybe we will actually see them change colour before they are torn off. Is it too soon to say that we have escaped any equinoctial storms?

Birds have been going about their business as usual. After a great deal of talk and clatter, the oystercatchers departed at the end of July/beginning of August. It is not long since the swallows left and they are being replaced by the geese returning from their summer in the north. Great skeins fly honking past. They will have a disappointment when they come to earth for there will be few pickings after this harvest. Already, there are flocks of frustrated rooks raucously complaining about the lack of goodies.

If winter is severe, there is a good supply of food for the smaller birds. Rosehips are plentiful and rowan trees and cotoneaster are bright with berries. Grasses have luxuriant seed heads, as do many other plants. It has been pleasing to see an old apple tree in Finstown proudly showing off a fine crop of apples.

Folk are saying that we should enjoy all this and make the most of it as it may be a long time before we see its like again.

Optimists are hoping that a time of better seasons has started. Pessimists are already fearing that we will have a very bad winter. Whatever our hopes and fears, we will just have to wait and see, as usual.