Our heatwave here continues - temperatures in high 20s C day after day. We haven't had any significant
rainfall here since early May. An extremely unusual state of affairs for the Pennine region
of Britain - I've lived up here for a quarter-century and cannot remember anything like it.
Wildfires have begun on the high moors west of here (where the photo next to this one was taken).
We've been able to see the smoke from our house, although thankfully we're not close enough to be affected by it.
When we were walking there last week, there were ground-nesting birds everywhere - skylarks, oystercatchers, curlews
- all of whom will have lost their nests and young in the burned areas. The plants and ground-dwelling
animals (such as hares) and their young will have died.
I now understand much better the fear of wildfires which occurs every summer in other parts of the world!

Here's a photo of the little lad, waiting for me to connect the hose-pipe up. He loves playing with the
jet of water to cool down!