This was our first really hot week of the summer, with temperatures climbing into the mid 20s most afternoons, though I realise this in not hot compared to what others, further south, are having to put up with!  I’ve squeezed in a couple of early morning runs before my babysitting duties have kicked in and am noticing how strongly scented plants are after a heavy dew – aniseed-scented Sweet Cicely is an obvious one but I noticed the honeyed scent of Creeping Thistles growing en masse too this week. It shouldn’t have been a surprise, I suppose, knowing that moths such as the Common Emerald feed on them at night. The Buddleia in the garden also smells lovely in the sunshine but there are very few butterflies around, though I did see a Tortoiseshell on the Ragwort at work.

Theheat meant I couldn’t rely on my normal source of moss for a Supported Progression practical looking at moss-dwelling invertebrates, on the walls outside Biosciences, as these were looking very frazzled.  However it did give me an excuse for a very pleasant wander through High Wood at lunchtime, enjoying the shade.  The Kindbergia praelonga and Mnium hornum there looked much more promising and did yield a reasonable number of Nematodes and Rotifers and, eventually, a single Tardigrade, which the students always want to see.

Around the science site, the grassland is starting to look late-summerish – most of the grasses and quite a lot of flowering plants are in seed now. Wild carrots have become the newest seasonal umbellifers in flower along my running route.

One highlight of the week has been looking at some of the lovely feedback from the students involved in the Botanic gardens volunteer group, which makes the effort I’ve put in to support the group feel very worthwhile. Students who were involved in the group this academic year said they had enjoyed being part of a community of like-minded peers and contributing to the wider Durham community, as well as taking a break from their studies outdoors and having the opportunity to explore the gardens in depth.  The students liked the fact that other people were enjoying their work, as well as feeling they had gained new skills and knowledge, including gaining a greater appreciation of plant science and the vital role it plays in research and understanding the natural world around us. The most glowing recommendation came from a student who said it had been one of the best parts of her degree!  Onwards and upwards!

On Sunday we drove north to visit my brother and his family near Lochgilphead, stopping to charge the car after a couple of hours at Annandale Water services. The number of Gridserve chargers was the primary reason for stopping here for me but for Casper it was definitely the ‘Dinosaur duck birds’ on the pond!

In the garden another bonus from my bird feeder has been enjoying the sunshine – it’s probably the largest sunflower I’ve ever grown, if I can claim credit for growing something I didn’t plant! There are now Harebells flowering in the front ‘lawn’, to my delight and the seed pods of the Bird’s-foot Trefoil there are looking very much like hen’s feet now. The Common Green Shieldbug on the pods was a bonus feature!

In the allotment the heat has limited how much I’ve wanted to do during the day but I’ve been hacking back brambles and bindweed and filled my garden waste bin and more. Digging up the first potatoes of the year is always a treat and, though I planted them very late and they are small, the first of my Charlotte potatoes made a delicious potato salad.  The blackberry season is now in full swing and I can pick almost a kilo of fruit every couple of days.  The freezer is fast filling up with fruit and home-made coulis to see us through the winter months.

I’ve been reading and very much enjoying Transcendent Kingdom, by Yaa Gyasi, the story of a family from Ghana who immigrate to the southern US in search of a better life and the challenges they face. It’s very different to her first book, Homecoming, which I loved too. I’m particularly enjoying her descriptions of the life of a young science researcher, with all its eccentricities.