Being so far west in the UK we have a maritime climate which means we don't see much in the way of extreme weather (apart from gales - we do those well!) It never gets exceptionally hot here (our max during the 'heatwave' so far has been a sweltering 20C) and it rarely gets that cold (snow is unusual). Humidity isn't much of an issue either and long hot sleepless nights are not a problem. However this past week has been one of the most humid I can recall with 90% being hit on several days. Being surrounded by a relatively cool sea this has led to fog and lots of it!
Our view of late
While the rest of the UK basked in sweltering heat we have been living in a warm, moist cloud. It did break up on the weekend and we were treated to a lovely sunny day with a refreshing cool breeze. Yesterday that gave way to a thunderstorm that rumbled around all morning and produced some impressive lightning and menacing looking clouds. And today its back to fog!....
Menacing thunder clouds looking south yesterday
All this has meant largely indoor jobs with the painting marathon continuing apace. It's also been a useful time to catch up on paperwork with all the species monitoring work of spring and early summer needing processing. There has been some fun jobs though with the weekly Manx shearwater 'weigh in' always a highlight of the week - all 9 monitored nest boxes are progressing well and food supply appears good again this year
This young Manxie chick is doing well - the more familiar adult face already starting to show through
The heathland is in bloom now with bell heather and western gorse putting on a vibrant display
It's been another good period for common dolphin sightings from the island with a pod (perhaps the same one as last week?) of up to 20 animals being recorded over the weekend. Thanks to our friends at Thousand Islands Expeditions for this photo
Returning migrants are stopping off now with willow warblers and blackcaps being the most numerous. A small but regular curlew passage has been noted and the first greenshank of the year was flying around calling in the fog over the weekend. And as if it say autumn is well and truly here (in the bird world that is!) the first 2 robins of the year have set up territory. We have now had 4 seal pups born but are still a couple of weeks away from the main show getting under way