Revisiting Warriston Cemetery

 We've been warned over the past week or so that a heatwave was on its way, and now it has hit! I left home early to try to fit in as much as possible of today's wildlife survey as I could before the temperature got unbearable. I also chose Warriston Cemetery which has large areas of woodland (part of it is in fact a Local Nature Reserve), making much of it a cool place to survey.

The sunshine brought the butterflies out, including this Red Admiral 

and this Comma 

I've added all today's butterfly records to the Big Butterfly Count, though their website doesn't seem to be as user-friendly as it used to be. Has anyone else noticed that?  

I was delighted to see a lot of fledglings that had obviously only recently left their nests. The most amusing was a family of young blue tits that had gathered near a stream and were diving in to drink and bathe. Open water is such a vital resource for wildlife in overly hot weather like this. 

We're experiencing record breaking temperatures in the UK (and across Europe) at the moment. This is not 'a nice summer' as many people seem to put it. It's climate change. In the UK, we're not equipped to deal with temperatures like this! If you're going out today or tomorrow, wear a hat, cover up, walk in the shade when you can and drink lots of water. And think about joining a campaign to address climate change.