Strider Longshanks<p>Notwithstanding the orange sunset glow in the distance, I took this picture yesterday to illustrate just how severe an effect the heatwave in France has had on the trees in our garden. The <a href="https://mountains.social/tags/oaks" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>oaks</span></a> have definitely had the worst of it. Nearly all of them have turned brown and most are shedding in response to the hydric stress they've suffered over the last 6 weeks. This is the earliest I've seen this happen in the Auvergne since I first moved here 27 years ago. When I see the same type of rainfall deficit and warmer temperatures occurring in western Ireland as well, it does make one wonder whether it's not already too late and whether we're actually powerless to do anything about it.<br><a href="https://mountains.social/tags/hydricstress" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>hydricstress</span></a><br><a href="https://mountains.social/tags/drought" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>drought</span></a> <br><a href="https://mountains.social/tags/heatwave" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>heatwave</span></a> <br><a href="https://mountains.social/tags/treesofmastodon" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>treesofmastodon</span></a></p>