Like sentinels guarding a spot, three red kites slowly stir in the sky. My eyes trace downwards to a cloud of dust swirling up like a portal. A neighbouring farm has started cutting the long grass to make hay. As the habitat is razed, wildlife will be scattering – voles, mice, deer, hares.
Back at High Ash farm, my brother consults the forecast. Should he too be cutting the hay? It’s a high-risk crop. Most harvests remove the produce off the land the second it is cut, safely into the barn. With hay, you leave it on the ground at the mercy of the weather, where it requires five sunny days to dry out fully.
Overnight, the dismal grey cloud that has shrouded Norfolk vanishes. The decision is made to cut a few fields and the machinery roars into action.
Wildlife here takes precedence. All the wildflower “pollen and nectar” mixes will be left untouched until late August. Early cutting of hay is not ideal from a wildlife perspective, but nature-friendly mowing practices help reduce the impact. This includes cutting the field from the centre outwards, and having other uncut fields where animals can flee to. By contrast, in my dad’s boyhood, terriers and lurchers would have been on hand to catch escaping creatures.
Later, as I stroll across the freshly mown field, just a solitary red kite overhead, I inhale that distinctive sweet, almost vanilla hay aroma that epitomises summer. The scent is known as “coumarin” and is found in sweet vernal grass. It becomes more aromatic as it dries. Coumarin has even been synthesised for use in best-selling designer fragrances.
Going back a century or so, half this farm was hay crop, grown to fuel the working horses that laboured on the land. Today, it is needed for leisure horses. The irony is that many owners will need to soak the nutritious, energy-rich hay to remove sugars and avoid overweight horses. This summer, we’re heading into drought conditions, with young trees already dead or showing signs of stress. But just for a few days we stop hoping for rain. This year’s harvest is under way and there’s no turning back.
• Country diary is on Twitter at @gdncountrydiary
