July 24th Strumpshaw Fen

A heatwave has been hitting the UK this week with temperatures reaching over 30+°C. It has been overwhelming. It has been so hot that it triggered a thunderstorm during the night. When my alarm clock woke me up at 5:45 this morning so that I could prepare myself for my usual commute to Strumpshaw, the storm was still raging and forced me to call for a lift. I had a bit of a lie-in, but I still wasn't looking forward for this week's shift as, even though the storm had now passed, it was still excruciatingly energy draining in this heat.

Willow Emerald Damselfly

I arrived at Strumpshaw with no time for a walk (not that I wanted to anyway today), so I just refilled the bird feeders and started my shift in the Reception Hide. Thankfully, it was a little cooler inside the hide thanks to a draft. However, there wasn't too much to see, bird wise, except for brief sightings of 3 bearded tits and a kingfisher, while also seeing marsh harriers, a heron, swallows and house martins and several moulting ducks.

While it seemed that the birds were preferring to stay out of the baking sun, the insects, on the other hand, were relishing it. It was a great day for dragonfly watching. From Reception Hide, hundreds of emperor dragonflies, black-tailed skimmers, brown, migrant and southern hawkers and common and ruddy darters swarmed over the broad, performing mass dogfights above the water. From the pond adjacent to the hide, I was showing visitors the small red-eyed damselflies and willow emerald damselflies, which I've never seen at this pond in previous years.

White Admiral

It was also a good day for butterfly watchers, too. As it was quiet from Reception Hide, I spent some time around the corner watching many of them visiting the buddleia. Peacocks, red admirals, commas, small whites, large whites, gatekeepers, meadow browns, painted ladies and, best of all, a white admiral were all seen from this one bush alone! An impressive haul! It made me put my mind on other things that wasn't the heat. The bad news, though, is that it is going to be even hotter tomorrow with temperatures predicting to reach 37-38 °C in some parts of the UK!