Newest Warmest Day in Hereford (2026)

 The two biggest sellers in any bookshop are the cookbooks and the diet books. The cookbooks tell you how to prepare the food and the diet books tell you how not to eat any of it - Andy Rooney

Photo 1: Water Scorpion (Newton Brook, 22/5/26)

The previous record for warmest Hereford day in 2026 was in 26 ℃ on April 8th. It has taken nearly a month for that record to be broken because May has been cooler than normal this year. Sufficiently cool, in fact, that it has delayed sowing and planting out in the kitchen garden. However, the 2026 heat record was finally broken on the 22nd May when the temperature climbed to 28 ℃.

Table 1: May 2026 Temperatures in Hereford

As this excerpt from my Weatherlink.com page shows, May 22nd was 10 ℃ warmer than the average maximum temperature during May 2026. It certainly felt much warmer with just a single layer of clothing (T-shirt) needed well into the evening. Some of that evening was spent doing a Riverfly Survey on our local Newton Brook where we test the water quality as citizen scientists. It has taken a while to get our site approved for the Riverfly Monitoring Scheme as there is quite a bit of training involved.

The good news: we found a water scorpion (Photo 1). The bad news: a predominance of water shrimp (Gammarus pulex) over all other species and no mayfly or caddis fly larvae. This is indicative of a watercourse that is not in the best of health.

We will be doing monthly surveys from now on to establish a baseline population of aquatic animal life over the next year. Then looking at ways to improve the river habitat and water quality.

Feed the Birds? But When and How Often?

I am returning this otherwise good typing paper to you because somebody has printed gibberish all over it and put your name at the top - Steven Clark

Until recently, we were advised by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) to feed birds all year round. This advice was changed recently. The reason? A disease called trichomoniasis first noted (2005) in the UK in finches but also now found in pigeons and doves and, to a lesser extent, other garden birds that are seed feeders.

RSPB now recommends a pause in seed & peanut feeding between May 1st and October 31st. During this period, the disease risk is highest and there should be sufficient seeds available naturally for the bird population. Suet-based pellets and fat balls, along with meal worms (live or dried), can still be offered all year round.

Video 1: RSPB Safe Feeding Advice

In addition to this new feeding advice, it is essential that you regularly clean (i.e. at least once a week) your bird feeders. The traditional bird table (e.g. Photo 1) is now out of favour - as are all flat surface feeders - because the mix of food, droppings and saliva can pass on the disease to other birds. In addition, they are more difficult to keep hygienic.

Photo 1: Traditional Bird Table

Now it may be of little to no surprise that my local bird feed supplier (The Wild Bird Store) has a few issues with this new advice from the RSPB. While they strongly recommend regular cleaning of all bird feeding equipment, they also point out that changes in farming practices, use of pesticides, urban growth  and global warming have changed the landscape in terms of the availability and abundance of natural food sources during the summer. Their recommendations include:

• Use good-quality food and keep it dry
• Only put out what birds can eat in a day
• Use smaller feeders and spread them out
• Offer a variety of food
• Clean feeders regularly and make sure they are fully dry before refilling
• Clean water baths daily and refill with fresh tap water
• Store food properly so it stays fresh and dry
• Never feed mouldy, old food, or human leftovers
• Keep an eye out for signs of disease
• Make sure birds can spot any approaching cats

I also had a message from Finches Friend who supply my garden bird feeders (Photo 2) ...

Photo 2: Finches Friend Feeders for Suet Pellets, Bird Seed and Peanuts

These feeders are specially designed to keep the bird food dry, reduce disease-transfer from affected birds and enable easy cleaning. Finches Friend pointed out that removing seed feeders would lead the birds to find other bird feeders that were less hygienic. The RSPB advice to stop feeding between May 1st and October 31st only works in a practical sense if everybody does it. And, of course, that is just not going to happen.

My takeaway from all these fonts of knowledge is as follows:

• do not use flat surface feeders : e.g. traditional bird tables
• only use hanging bird feeders that keep the stored food separate and dry (e.g. Finches Friend)
• clean all bird feeding equipment at least once a week in hot soapy water and allow it to dry thoroughly
• do not offer peanuts during the close season (May 1st and October 31st)
• buy bird seed/pellets in smaller quantities to maintain freshness and store correctly (dry, cool)
• limit, but do not stop, feeding during summer to encourage foraging by the birds

My Finches Friend bird feeders are ideally suited to this new regime. They are easy to clean and keep the stored food separate and dry. The feeding tray can be shut off to reduce and control food availability with a minimum of inconvenience. I now limit feeding times to twice a day, rather than continuous, which also saves a bit of money!

Patience is a Virtue

 Astrology proves one scientific fact, and one only; there's one born every minute - Patrick Moore

Mary & I are proud to be citizen scientists: in addition to carrying out water testing on two local brooks in the Wye Catchment, we also do a breeding birds survey for the BTO, the Big Garden Birdwatch for the RSPB, and the Big Butterfly Count for Butterfly Conservation, and the Hereford City Nature Challenge. We have recently installed iNaturalist app on our phones so that we can identify and map the location of insects, plants, animals and birds; these data will be used by researchers for various nature-based projects.

I was cleaning/sterilizing my Greenhouse Sensation Veg/Salad Planter today and came across this beauty on the underside of the reservoir. I added it to my iNaturalist 'finds' and within an hour someone came back with an ID: False Black Widow Spider. Is this correct? I don't know!!

Photo 1: False Black Widow Spider? (Hereford, 11/5/26)

This rather long intro has nothing to do with spiders but everything to do with our work as Citizen Scientists trying to save the River Wye.

One of the parameters we measure with our water-testing kit is Total Oxidised Nitrogen (TON, i.e. the amount of nitrate and nitrite in the water measured as ppmN). We use HACH test strips for a simple semi-quantitative measurement of both TON and Nitrite (as ppm nitrogen). Unfortunately, the HACH product is no longer available in the UK because one of the reagents used on the test strips is banned in the European Union (EU). When the UK left the EU in 2020, it kept many of the product regulations of the EU in order to allow continued trading with the EU who are the UK's biggest trading bloc. Brexit was a complete and utter disaster for the UK where we achieved none of the supposed benefits but lost lots of advantages. Those who voted for Brexit turned out, despite the very credible warnings, to be turkeys voting for Christmas!!

Got sidetracked again there! So until HACH reformulates its product for the European market, an alternative TON test strip product was needed. There were a couple of readily available options on the market from Simplex Health and Waterworks (see Photo 2). The products look remarkably similar; so much so that Simplex Health also sell the Waterworks product!

Photo 2: Alternative TON Test Strips

Several of the citizen scientists within our Wye Alliance group have carried out checks to ensure all three makes of test strips (HACH, Simplex Health and Waterworks) give comparable results for nitrate; which they do. Nobody has yet confirmed the same equivalency for nitrite.

I spent ages trying to find a low cost source of a reasonably pure (>95%) soluble nitrite salt (i.e. any of the sodium, potassium, calcium or ammonium nitrites) so I could make up standard solutions in de-ionised water. Despite the fact that nitrates and nitrites are used in food products (cured meats such as bacon, ham, sausages) as preservatives, sodium nitrite is extremely difficult to get hold of because of its toxicity. I contacted a number of well-known chemical suppliers but none would sell to a private individual.

Finally, I located a German website (biogo.de) that would sell me a small quantity (50 g) of 95% minimum potassium nitrite. I'd have been happy with 10 g but beggars can't be choosers. 

Photo 3: Potassium Nitrite from Poland

I heard nothing for months and had given up on ever receiving the product when, out of the blue, it turned up in my postbox on the 5th May 2026: approximately six months later!

While patience is certainly a virtue, it is not one I necessarily possess. I had given up on ever receiving the potassium nitrate from Poland so searched again for a suitable nitrite standard. I managed to find a company (EDT DirectION) that would sell me a 1000 ppm total nitrite standard solution and this arrived within a few days.

Photo 4: My 1000 ppm Total Nitrite Standard

The 1000 ppm total nitrite (NO2) solution is equivalent to a 304.5 ppm nitrite as nitrogen (NO2-N); the units measured by all the test strips. As soon as I have completed my comparison of all three TON test strips, I will post the results in a future blog post. You'll just have to be patient!

Finally, Fritillaries!

 How can I tell when I've run out of invisible ink? - Steven Wright

Over a month ago (23rd March 2026) we visited Lugg Meadow on our way back home from daffodil site-seeing. Mary was thinking it might be the start of the Snakeshead fritillary season for which the Lugg Meadow is well-known. This floodplain meadow of the River Lugg (the clue's in the name!) seems to be under constant threat from road and house building developments. When we visited in late March, the blackthorn was in full flower and bird song ...

Photo 1: Blackthorn Hedge, Lugg Meadow (23rd March 2026)

But, of fritillaries, there was no sign.

We returned a month later (26th April 2026) thinking we might have missed the flowering peak. Certainly, some of the fritillary blooms were past their best ...

Photo 2: Snakeshead Fritillary (Lugg Meadow, 26th April 2026)

... and they were certainly less abundant than in previous years. It was, however, possible to find areas where the blooms, especially the white variety, were visible from a distance ...

Photo 3: White Snakeshead Fritillaries in Foreground and Background (Lugg Meadow, 26/4/26)

The white version of Snakeshead Fritillary is dominant on the Lugg Meadow ...

Photo 4: White Snakeshead Fritillary (Lugg Meadow, 26/4/26)

... perhaps by a factor of 100:1 over the more familiar 'purple' variety ...

Photo 5: Purple Snakeshead Fritillary (Lugg Meadow, 26/4/26)

Some hybrids of the white & purple were also in evidence ...

Photo 6: Hybrid White/Purple Snakeshead Fritillary (Lugg Meadow, 26/4/26)

These delicate bell-shaped flowers are a delight to see, nodding their heads in the gentle Spring breeze. It was disappointing to see so few blooms but hopefully this was just a bad year.

Bluebells on the Malverns

There is a thin line between genius and insanity. I have erased that line - Oscar Levant

We were off camping for a few days in the Cotswolds but not before stopping off at the Malvern Hills to see the bluebells. We parked up in the layby where several people were filling containers with Malvern spring water. People come from miles away to avail themselves of this free resource. Oxford is about 70 miles from Malvern and is the furthest distance that we know of; apparently, Oxford's tap water doesn't make a decent cup of tea!

We could see the bluebells in the distance and Mary was off like a shot (Photo 1) ...

Photo 1: In Search of Bluebells (27th April 2026)

We visited this popular bluebell site about the same time last year but this year's display was even better. It was as though someone had laid out a blue carpet for us ...

Photo 2: Bluebell Carpet (27/4/26)

These are, of course, the scented English Bluebells and not the increasingly common Spanish variety (no scent). As you breathed in the sweet scent, it felt good to be alive.

Photo 3: English Bluebells on the Malverns (27/4/26)

After an altogether too brief stop, it was back to the car and onwards to the Cotswolds.