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England and Wales provisionally record driest July in nearly 200 years, Met Office says
July 2026 was the driest month in southern England since records began nearly 200 years ago, the Met Office has said.
England and Wales also provisionally recorded their driest July since records began in 1836. Wales had its joint warmest July on record for mean temperature, and England recorded its second warmest July.
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This detritivore – known by a range of colourful names – tidies up our world and can withstand toxic pollution
Chucky pig. Slater. Monkey pea. Roly-poly. Boat-builder. Butchy boy. Cheeselog. Hobbling Andrew. Wood pig. If there were a prize for the range and joyfulness of a creature’s English-language names, the humble woodlouse would undoubtedly triumph over its million-plus invertebrate rivals.
Over centuries of easy cohabitation with humans, it has acquired more than 300 regional names in Britain alone, and many more in other languages (such as Gwrach y Coed, “witch of the wood”, in Welsh).
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From Europe’s deadly heat to floods in Asia, it’s been a terrifying summer. Environment writers Jonathan Watts and Ajit Niranjan answered Reddit users’ questions about their work – and their sources of hope
Extreme weather supercharged by the climate crisis is fuelling an explosive wildfire season in Europe and extreme rainfall across Asia this summer.
Global heating made hot, dry and windy weather stoking wildfires at least 20 times more likely in Spain and twice as likely in France. EU officials have said wildfires could still be burning until early November in what threatens to be a record-breaking year for the area of land burned.
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Volunteers painstakingly gather plastic pellets washing up on beaches after ship collision on 19 July
‘You’ve got a local community that really cares about the coastline,” said Alice Laverty, reflecting on the huge army of volunteers who had taken to crisis-hit beaches in north-east England with passion and only the most basic tools. “They’ve all got a dustpan, a brush, a bucket, a kitchen sieve.”
On beaches from Cambois in Northumberland to Seaburn on Wearside, up to 2,000 dedicated volunteers have been painstakingly sifting through sand to find tiny, lentil-sized pellets of plastic.
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Soaring temperatures continue to sweep parts of Europe, while Okinawa faces powerful winds and storm surges
Unbearable, record-breaking heat has dominated the summer of 2026 across much of Europe. New records were set in central Europe last week, with Wieselburg in Austria registering a new July peak of 40.3C (104.5F). This is particularly significant as it is just 0.2C behind the all-time high, set in the August of 2003.
However, not all of the northern hemisphere has experienced extreme heat and aridity. Vancouver recorded its wettest July since 2016 and the third wettest since 2008, with 33.6mm of rain. While that total may not appear exceptional, it is only a touch above the 1991-2020 climate average, highlighting how unusually dry July has been in the Canadian city over the past decade.
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Environment minister says Australia has ‘long and difficult journey’ and says more mass mortality events likely
Aerial surveillance has detected mass bird deaths in a second Australian state in another suspected escalation of the spread of deadly H5 bird flu.
The environment minister, Murray Watt, said on Monday Australia had begun “a long and difficult journey” as CSIRO analysis confirmed Australia’s first mass mortality event at Baudin Rocks off South Australia’s coast.
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Readers respond to an article on the swarms of houseflies people are having to cope with in hot weather
My experience of flies is that during the past 20 years or so there has been a significant decline in numbers – Highland midges not included of course (‘It makes you feel you’ve got a really dirty house’: what’s behind the UK’s plagues of flies?, 30 July).
Memories of childhood summers in the 1950s and 60s are of endless sticky flytraps, typically placed near doorways in the house. Any foodstuffs left out on a counter would immediately attract a variety of coloured flies within seconds.
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British cheesemakers have struggled to find a use for the 95,000 tonnes of salty whey they produce every year. But researchers may have come up with a solution
Name: Whey.
Age: As old as milk.
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After another massacre of smallholders – who are subjected to violence from palm oil firms and drug traffickers – the country’s new Trump-backed government has criminalised community leaders
Sitting on the back of the motorcycle, 15-year-old Orlean* heard gunshots. A moment later, the bike crashed. His uncle and two cousins fell to the ground dead. Orlean fled into the dense green forest of the palm oil farm and rushed along the dirt road until he was home.
He survived a massacre, one of only three who did.
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New Zealand sailing team combine racing with campaigning for environmental and social impact
“Sailing on the Solent was awesome, but our racing … not quite perfect,” says Blair Tuke, co-chief executive of the Black Foils, New Zealand’s SailGP team, after finishing fifth at last month’s Great Britain Sail Grand Prix. It was only the team’s second competitive outing of the season after the boat had to be “pretty much rebuilt” following a big crash in Auckland in February, which forced them to miss four races.
But the team’s work off the water hasn’t stopped in the boatyard. Before the race in Portsmouth, which coincided with the beginning of National Marine Week in the UK, the Black Foils were awarded the Better Planet award in SailGP’s Impact League that rewards teams for environmental and social impact alongside racing.
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