Newbury aye! I am from the very place and I would say the same.

Harvesting of corn yield has not yet started locally (had started by this
time last year) and also I would say by looking at the crops, they may be
suffering. The downs locally are looking brown where the grass is dying and
soil surfaces are showing large cracks, including in my garden. Many
butterflies are on the wing though and my garden is full of birds, also
desperately drinking and bathing, so it seems these things do have a
positive effect, sometimes.

Kind Regards

Tony
28.8c the max in my sheltered bit of suburbia
Newbury, Berkshire

"Richard Orrell" wrote in message
oups.com...
Just returned this morning from another overseas trip and was struck
how dry and brown much of SE (especially eastern Essex and central
London) England and South Central (especially near Newbury) England
looked from the air, and it is only mid-July ! It would be interesting
to get some ground reports from Essex...ping Keith ??

Cracking day today...max +27.2 deg. C (+1.5 deg. C 24-hr temp anomaly
for the month so far).

Regards,
Richard.

--
Dartington, South Hams, Devon.
100 ft AMSL.
50' 12N, 03' 24W.

If all mankind were to disappear, the world would regenerate back to
the rich state of equilibrium that existed ten thousand years ago. If
insects were to vanish, the environment would collapse into chaos. ~
Edward O. Wilson