For the heat lovers, last month was glorious for most of the UK, with much of England basking in the high 20s Celsius (low 80s F), the warmth even briefly invading Scotland in the final week. The end of June saw temperatures in the south and east widely reaching 30C, with the highest official temperature in the south-east being just over 33C (91F). Overall, June was the warmest in England since records began in 1884. This was quite a change after last year's washout summer. Despite all the rain we had in 2024, however, some parts of central and northern England declared a drought last month, and the south is not far behind following the driest spring since 1893. Outside of Britain, much of Europe was enduring similar heat, with temperatures in parts of central Spain and Portugal reaching 46C (115F) and remaining in the mid-20s (high 50s F) overnight.
News and discoveries
Whale waffle? Way back in the 1980s, keepers in marine aquaria in North America observed dolphins blowing bubble rings, seemingly for their own amusement. This curious behaviour has since been documented in a host of cetaceans (whales and dolphins) both in captivity and the wild, and in some cases we think it is linked to feeding. Indeed, humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) have been documented blowing streams of bubbles -- so called "bubble nets" or "bubble curtains" -- that they use to trap fish. New research from a team of California-based scientists and renowned underwater photographer Doug Perrine suggests that whales are much more likely to blow these bubbles in the presence of tourist boats, however, leading to suggestions that humpbacks might be attempting to communicate or at least interact with us. The analysis of records of bubble blowing, including data from drone flights monitoring a population of whales for five years in Hawaii and Alaska to see what happened in the absence of humans, is currently in press with Marine Mammal Science and suggests that, akin to a "candidate signal", humpbacks often approached boats and blew bubble "smoke" rings in their direction in an apparent attempt to playfully interact, observe our response, and/or engage in some form of communication. No bubble structures were observed by the unmanned drones during the control group study.
Nature narcotic. Despite the speed at which biodiversity and habitats are being lost, particularly in Britain, many of us admit to feeling more relaxed in natural surroundings, by which I mean, to paraphrase The Small Faces on their 1968 Ogdens' Nut Gone Flake album, resting our eyes in shades of green. We know that patients in wards that have a view of nature and are exposed to natural frequencies such as birdsong recover faster, too. A new small survey from the University of Plymouth and University of Exeter, published in the Journal of Pain, adds further to the growing data on the benefits of nature to our health, suggesting that access to nature is also important for managing chronic back pain. Neurologists interviewed ten patients being treated for chronic lower back pain, some of whom had been afflicted for nearly 40 years, about how they managed their condition and whether being out in nature helped their symptoms. Perhaps unsurprisingly, patients noted that being able to get outside allowed them to connect with others socially, which provided a distraction from their pain. Furthermore, most noted that they preferred to get exercise outside than attend a gym, and reported that natural features such as fresh air and the sight and sound of water helped give them a feeling of tranquillity, which relieved the stresses and anxieties created by their pain levels. The paper recommends patients and the clinicians treating them give more serious consideration to the role that escaping into nature can have on managing such conditions.
Amphibian adit. Several years ago, I joined a team of volunteers on a Toad Patrol in the New Forest. Patrols involve donning high-vis vests and, armed with buckets and torches, walking along a stretch of busy road separating woodland where common toads hibernate and the ponds in which they return to spawn. Any amphibians encountered are collected in the bucket and transferred safely to the verge fringing the pond. Toad patrols, or toad crossings, are now a relatively common sight in England during late winter and early spring, and Froglife estimates that nearly 135 thousand toads were rescued by volunteers across about 250 sites last year. Despite this, at the same sites, just over 17,300 toads were run over. Amphibians are powerfully compelled to return to their breeding ponds each year and often travel en masse, which can lead to significant losses on busy roads. Such patrols are labour intensive and rely on volunteers giving up their evenings, but a longer-term approach might lie in amphibian underpasses. Indeed, new data from Monkton, in the New England state of Vermont, suggest road underpasses can be highly successful in reducing amphibian roadkill. The study, which spanned more than a decade, included a rigorous before and after design, and involved scientists from the University of Vermont, the Vermont Agency of Natural Resources, and the local community, reported that the presence of an underpass reduced overall amphibian crossing mortality by 80% compared with an equivalent road without an underpass. Moreover, when they excluded the climbing amphibians from the species in their analysis, mortality dropped by 94%. Crossing mortality on the underpassed road was similar to that in buffer zones without roads, confirming the animals were using the tunnels and not just being shifted to cross elsewhere.
For a round-up of Britain's seasonal wildlife highlights for mid-summer, check out my Wildlife Watching - July blog.