The first day of Summer

It’s hard to believe that today is the first day of Summer when the rain is coming down in buckets and we can’t see the hills for low clouds.  Even the birds don’t seem to be out and about today.  I put some food out between cloud bursts and only a few cheeky sparrows came.  They were later joined by our pair of resident blackbirds who must be nesting close by.  We just haven’t worked out what tree they are nesting in yet.

The rain didn’t keep the men from Tree Services away though.  Two large trucks parked across the road and several men in orange reflective vests and hard hats got out and placed traffic cones on the road around their vehicles to warn passing traffic.  Out came the loppers as they attacked the smaller overhanging branches.  Then the noisy whine of the chainsaw could be heard.  All this noise and activity looked very interesting so I donned my rain coat, grabbed my camera and went out to have a look.

 

The workmen seemed mildly amused to see me when I arrived in the pouring rain withy my camera at the ready and snapped a few photos.  A couple of them stopped to see what I wanted and were happy to explain what they were doing.  One of them climbed into the bucket which lifted him up to the higher branches.  Out came the chain saw again and he swiftly lopped off the overhanging branches.  When each tree was trimmed to their liking they then had to get rid of all the debris.  That was no trouble at all – they were towing a small mulcher behind one of the trucks, which made short work of all the lopped off branches.  “This is just the baby mulcher”, a workman explained, “we’ve got a much bigger one back in the yard”. 

 

The rain kept falling, and the workmen kept trimming trees, as they slowly moved along the street.  If this is the first day of Summer, where is the sunshine?