October is traditionally the wettest month of the year but this one was the driest in living memory with measurable rainfall on only three days. It was also milder than usual with no frost. This was caused by persistent high pressure over Scandinavia, a pattern that in the recent past has often switched in...
Dr Phil Smith: Wildlife Notes September 2016
September can be a wet and windy month but not this one; it was much drier and warmer than usual. This meant a busy time for me, finishing off several field surveys, including a coastwide investigation into the ecology of Small-fruited Yellow-Sedge. I ended up with 44 colonies of this rather uncommon dune-slack specialist....
Dr Phil Smith: Wildlife Notes August 2016
A rather unremarkable month for weather, August had average rainfall and a couple of short warm spells but was largely characterised by cool windy conditions. My frequent visits to the dunes revealed a surprising lack of large insects, especially dragonflies and butterflies. Thus, after a gale the previous day, I called in at our premier...
Dr Phil Smith: Wildlife Notes July 2016
Apart from a one-day heatwave on 19th when temperatures reached an oppressive 32oC, the month’s weather was unexceptional. Rainfall seems to have been about average but it was often cooler than expected in the first two and the last weeks. Predictably, the Devil’s Hole slack gradually dried up, though there was still a little surface...
