UKC

So, back to school, back to normal. One of the “best” (? depending on your view) summers within living memory, just coming to an end it seems. Takes me back to 1976. 
I’d love to know what this exceptionally dry and sunny summer did for you. Were there things on your wishlist that you could do because of the weather. I guess a good few people did things like Cuillin Ridge, or did routes that rarely come into condition like Eagle Front. Or perhaps you swam in 100 Lakeland tarns.  
Now, as an ex-climber the best things for me have been in the garden such as, currently the huge numbers of butterflies and the amazing flower displays, like annual Tithonia as tall as me and full of marvellous flowers.

It’s been fantastic. Lots of quality family time on long walks in the local countryside and lots of time at the not-so-local outdoor swimming pool.

The standout for me are our Victoria plums.  They’ve got an incredibly reach, caramelised flavour that I’ve never experienced before.

If we don’t get a wet winter, things are going to be getting desperate however.

Been walking round Kew gardens today, a lot of trees are starting to look autumnal... already. So the trees aren't too happy about the summer!

Same here with plums - our freezer is packed. Biggest plums I’ve ever seen.

Painted the sodding garden fence

Blackberries... phwoar!

Despite the record drought i seem to have had several damp days on the hill!

Edit, as an aside I'd not be surprised if Skye hasn't had normal or above average rainfall. Often it's been the only place weather fronts have clipped when passing us. 

I've enjoyed all the butterflys. Week in the Lakes with the kids, the youngest of whom is soon to depart for uni, bimbling about. Managed to avoid doing a bunch of jobs that kind of need doing. Sat under trees and watched the clouds. No climbing at all.

Lots of walking along the Kennet & Thames. The odd swim, too; managed 1.4km in 75 mins at Pangbourne the other night. Just sitting in the Swan at Pangbourne after another walk and shorter swim from the other side.

Frustrating that the Thames or Kennet side is often inaccessible due to private land, or angling clubs; I've become a bit anti angling over summer for this reason...

There are also some bonkers archaisms with the PRoWs, where, historically, there was a ferry (evidenced by 'Ferry Cottage'), such that there are sections of footpath that are isolated and inaccessible because, unsurprisingly, the ferries vanished centuries ago... Then there are riverside sections that are steep and have no cultivatable purpose, but are still aggressively signposted 'private keep out'.

Ours is full of plums as well despite storm Floris downing quite a few. I pickled some of the unripe ones which were surprisingly good!

Unfortunately for the plum tree it's getting a serious prune. There really was too much fruit this year.

I did something different.  https://www.hwdt.org/news/hwdt11-2025

Ah yes that daft bit of the Thames Path ...

Hi Rog

I’ m not a summer fan and in late May thought that this would be a long one!

At least most of the hot days were interspersed with cooler weather.

I hate the heat, the crowds, the late sunsets.

I’ve not been on a hill for a camp or walk since late June when we had an unseasonable night.

I’m really looking forward to Autumn and Winter and some shite weather. It makes you feel alive

The bats are good tonight to be honest. I like bats.

Dave

I've enjoyed this summer. Our garden is dry and the Chilterns are like a tinder box ... but what a year for blackberries and apples, and I have found TWO wild damson trees laden with fruit. Jamming this evening.

Now, could someone please arrange for it to be warm and dry in North Wales in two weeks' time and in the Lakes in three weeks' time? I've spent a lot of this summer in the office and haven't had my main holiday yet!

Had my other hip replaced. Bumming  around, now able to get out on my mountain  bike, which is great. Climbed 1/4 of a route on a top rope.

Extremely  hot in northern  Spain.

there is a bush near us, and they all look frazzled - hardly got any..thought it was due to being too hot, same for plums?

But strawberries (in supermarkets) have been very good...

My river walks have featured loads of bullace trees, which I have enjoyed. I even picked a fairly large bag full on one section between Shiplake & Sonning.

The sloes seem huge this year, too.

The old un land the young pretender, waiting for colder days

dave

Don't you mean "Unfortunately for the prune tree it's getting a serious plum"?

Local to me near Bristol, there appears to have been two Blackberry seasons.
The first one was about a month ago and now there is a second one.
Never seen that before.

My parents are just north of the Chilterns and the fruit around their village was wild when I went down a few weeks ago. I've seen a lot more things that may have been damsons or bullaces, I'm not sure - never noticed them before. And I made my first greengage jam, which will haunt my parents' kitchen for months to come. 

As someone else said, I noticed the butterflies this year too - I think because last year we were all saying they'd disappeared (?). And the blackberries were much earlier (I think I saw an article in the Guardian saying that all the crazy fruit this year actually means we're fcked). I didn't notice many bilberries at all here in the Peak though - did others?

Not had much of a summer at all myself due to ill health and mobility (and no garden) so trying not to be jealous of all your reports, but I did enjoy scrumping with the father when visiting home*. And saw a lot of deer - some Muntjac but also something else that could have been roe deer, I'm not sure. I have developed rather a habit of thinking I can wriggle through hedges via the trails made by deer (at 5'3" I often can, but I never remember to wear long trousers to do so...).

*The scrumping was followed the next day by picking up an apple and slicing right through the maggot. 

Over my teacher's summer hols I had 4 weeks bike touring in Arctic Norway and 8 days climbing in the lakes. I had a waterproof jacket on for maybe 5 hours the whole holiday.

I changed my life

I exchanged 44 years of freelancing stress in Berlin for the peace and beauty of the Baltic island of Rügen. I grew up in the countryside, and it’s exhilarating to be back among woods, heath, marshland, crumbling chalk cliffs, granite boulders and a huge richness of wildlife.

I’ve rediscovered the joy of practicing the piano for its own sake instead of constantly chasing a deadline for a concert or theatre premiere; I’m currently immersed in the B flat Partita, the Waldstein and a Chopin nocturne in the knowledge that I have months and years to work on them at my own pace, and it’s been a revelation. Back to the roots…

Same with the running. In Berlin I’d always be either training for something specific or having no time for weeks and months on end; here I can step out of the door into the woods and just run as it takes me, without worrying about km splits, volumes or tapering. And if I see a flash of tail feathers in a bush I can just stop and have a look, as yesterday (I couldn’t discover any more of the bird); nobody cares  

The downside: no climbing! The nearest wall is 90 minutes away on the mainland (and I’m going there for the first time this afternoon, yay!). The Crag lists about 10 climbable relics of the Ice Age dotted around the island (which is amoeba shaped and big, about an hour’s car drive coast to coast in any direction). The listed routes go up to F6A, so I’m hoping to find some doable projects. And I’m hoping to get down to the Elbsandstein sometime in the autumn, we’ll see.

https://www.thecrag.com/de/klettern/germany/area/3710689779

Hedgerows bursting with big fat blackberries here too! I’ve never made jam in my life, but I think I’ll give it a go

Wishing everyone a great Autumn!

Notably we helped raise seven ducklings that the mother produced outside the house.  One of life's great experiences.  We saw them for the last time after they came for a big feed on day exactly four weeks after they were born/hatched.

They have been seen about the village since in an area where mother is a known character.

Now I know that if I was born again and had a bit of land with water I would keep ducks!

Some nice long bike rides this summer

Statistically, it hasn't actually been that dry. We did have a very dry spring, however June saw record rainfall in the Lakes (about twice the June average) - and pretty much the entire west coast saw higher than average rainfall.

In July, only South Wales and Cornwall saw below average rainfall.

In June, the entire west coast of Scotland saw well below-average sunshine, whereas for July it was about average.

Source - https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/research/climate/maps-and-data/uk-actual-and-a...

It's always interesting to see how individuals perceive the weather. People often bring up the summer of 1976 precisely because it was unusual - whereas now we get weather events like that every few years (though ironically Summer 2025 has not been that remarkable - it was the Spring that was particularly dry). For example, it's the Summer of 2006, not 1976, that is the hottest on record by several measures - and not just for the UK, but most of NW Europe.

Hmm.  Depends where you’re talking about.

Then north was dryer in winter and everywhere had an exceptionally dry spring.  Met office plots below 

The accumulated deficit by July was never massive, and August is looking like it’s going to be exceptionally dry (weekly plots from the EA below).  June was also quite dry in the north.

It won’t be long before the Met office anomaly rainfall map is out for summer and I expect a lot of brown on it…

https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/research/climate/maps-and-data/uk-actual-and-a...

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/weekly-rainfall-and-river-flow-r...

Yes, those are the Spring maps - as I said in my post, we did have a very dry and sunny April and May, which I suspect have had an effect on the perception of the Summer weather.

Take a look at the rainfall in the Lakes in June.

I made two attempts to do the Cuillin Ridge and both times it was too rainy!

It has been delightful to get outside climbing and walking in the sun, and as @wintertree has mentioned, the plums are particularly tasty this year! 

*edit to correct auto correct!

Fantastic! That is really making the most of a teacher’s holiday.

My summer was a mix of living near the south coast and the Hebrides. The weather in the south was great and I was either walking or cycling every day. The weather in the north west was mixed, some good spells of weather and some pretty awful. 90mph winds just a couple of weeks ago with lots of trees down and people without power for days.  

It's really made me think (again) about whether I want to continue living where I do. I'm finishing work this year and although the south is busy with people, cars etc, I did get out every day, and enjoyed the garden in the evening. Not something I can do here with the weather and midges. 

All in all I really enjoyed this spring and summer. 

• Bc In reply to planetmarshall:

June does not a summer make; the third plot I pasted in shows weeklies for the summer to date and shows the lakes as about the only consistent (well, almost - if they are rain free in one week) exception to the dry trend.

I reckon all of England accept the lake and maybe the south west will come in with well below average summer rainfall…

...and England does not a United Kingdom make!

I expect we'll see well above average temperatures for the whole of the UK - I think that's what people are probably noticing most this Summer. Otherwise I don't think we'll see much different from the average in terms of sunshine or rainfall - maybe a bit below average rainfall but nothing exceptional.

Of course how dry it feels outside is probably still largely affected by the exceptionally dry Spring.

Got on some moorland crags in bone-dry conditions (Shining Clough, Nether Tor, Upper Tor) and 2 good trips to Pembroke which included climbing Pen Y Holt stack a couple of weeks ago.

Spent the summer on building a new extension on our cottage in N.Wales, four months without a bathroom or inside toilet! Fortunately, the unusually dry weather has helped things along. Still a way to go but we finally got our new loo installed last week. Many thanks to our excellent builder and the talented local trades people he employed.

I've had precisely the same - once defeated by Storm Floris, and once by the remnants of Storm Erin, currently making Skye a bit miserable. Friends have also had two attempts thwarted by different weather events. 

Pouring down in London right now (noon on Tuesday 26th).

Indeed.

Wales - https://naturalresources.wales/about-us/news-and-blogs/blogs/dry-weather-up... - “Following an exceptionally dry Spring and early Summer, the South East Wales catchments only received 53% of the long term average rainfall for July. So far for August, they have received only 8-11% of the expected rainfall. The low rainfall has resulted in reduced river flows and soil moisture levels.”

As with most of England, it’s been a notably dry June/July and an exceptionally dry August so far - and August is almost over.  Lots of uncertainty over the former hurricane due soon.

The eastern side of Scotland looks to have a similar trend.

What rainfall there is, is also becoming more concentrated into brief storm events which, as well as being a problem for retention in the supply chain, means less hours of rain even where the totals are close to the long term average, which contributes to the strong summer vibe this year has had for many.

I think a below average summer rainfall (to date) and exceptionally low August rainfall away from the SW of England, the lakes and the west coast of Scotland is massively compounding the water deficit from spring.  If blocking highs dominate for much of the winter it’s going to be a challenging time ahead.

Edit: enjoying some unforecast rain on my lunchtime walk!  

I'm the other side of Reading to you - haven't been on the Thames nearly enough this summer!

My wife would really like an Indian summer next month, as she's got 2 weeks off work post-surgery and doesn't want to be staring at the rain!

Amazing. Since having my daughter 11yrs ago this month, climbing has been on the back burner. Sure, she's done some stuff with us and loves weekends in the Lakes, wainwright bagging or scrambling, but as she tells me she is first and foremost a kayaker not a climber. 

This summer we had a great week in the Lakes, mountains by morning, lake swimming (me)/kayaking(her) in the evenings. Recently got back from the Ecrins, a week high level walking and lots of via ferrata which she loved. I've realised how much I've missed all this, so summer '25 is the year I got my mountain mojo back!

Oh yes, and the fruit... my larder has about 20 jars of homemade strawberry/blackcurrant/damson jam!

Looks like Met Office are already calling Summer 2025 as the hottest on record, citing the combination of above average temps and the dry Spring as a factor.

Obviously not great news for the climate, but it's been great for climbing in the high mountain crags.

I’m never jealous of people’s holidays to warm places, but anything Arctic based gets me all green

Glad you had a fab summer!

Dave

It was an amazing trip. Great weather and stunning scenery, can't recommend it enough.

Sounds like lovely family stuff with what sounds like a feisty daughter. Brings back special memories for me.

I suspect, like you, many of us have enjoyed a wonderful summer while having a continual background worry about what the future looks like with respect to climate change and its consequences for water and food supplies.

Yes, it’s been a great summer if you don’t think about it.

If I think about it, it wouldn’t take many years like this for parts of the dales to resemble Southern California.

Don't think it’s cropped up on UKC yet but the moorland fire around Whitby and Goathland is a monster.  So far it’s holding at the A171; the peat is likely to be burning for years now.

That’s grim news. Only a decade or two ago the idea of extensive wild fires in upland Britain would not have been widely recognised in this notoriously wet country.
just seen the map of the fire near Whitby. Mrs Wilko’s parents owned an old farmhouse in the area covered by the farm. Fortunately, neither of them still with us.

Unfortunately not quite true as there have been some large peat fires in the past , for example to the west of the A9 not far from Carrbridge (1970s ?) which left a bare burnt area which was visible for many years (may still be, its a long time since I drove along the A9)

I get the sense the number and scale of upland fires is increasing, but I haven’t found anything close to an authoritative list of fires by date, location and area.

Seems like something it’s worth having data on.  I wonder if we are approaching the point it’s worth having fixed wing water bomber aircraft.

There's data for recent years available from the EU's Copernicus project

https://forest-fire.emergency.copernicus.eu/apps/effis_current_situation/

looking at 'burnt areas' (under the Rapid Damage Assessment heading) & 'last 30 days' shows quite a lot of fires, including in the UK. I've never used this part of Copernicus so I've no idea on data limitations, reliability etc but it'll be documented somewhere.

Great, thanks!

My running club did a continuous relay of the Wainwright Coast to Coast (we did the Pennine Way last year). I did the section from the end of Haweswater (near Mardale Head) to Shap. Encountered biblical rain on both the recce and on the day of the relay.

Inspired me to walk the Lakes section. Although having done Haweswater to Shap there and back twice during the Summer I improvised a bit and went to Howtown from Patterdale via Martindale and got a boat to Pooley Bridge.

Started at 2pm on Saturday and finished at 10am on Monday. No biblical rain this time, just very hot.

The fire is now clearing unexploded ordnance 

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cn4759lkgj0o.amp

"As the peat continues to burn down it is finding the World War Two ordnance and therefore exploding and we have now experienced over 18 ordnance explosions within key areas," the officer added.

It’s been a summer of contrasts;

Lots of birdwatching and walking and time with family and a cracking holiday in Greece. 

But: been tarnished with all this anti asylum seeker shite which I’ve allows to take over m head (to be expected, it’s my job)

And then, on Tuesday, my wife suffered a TIA stroke. Fortunately, a minor one (nothing showed on any scans), and good prognosis. 

Yes, I've been thinking of you with all this shite kicking off - it's horrifying to watch from the sidelines, I can't imagine how stressful it must be for those with skin in the game.

And eeek - sounds terrifying.  All best wishes to Mrs Clinger for a fast & full recovery.

Thanks and thanks. 

Two trips to Fontainebleau and a bolt clipping trip to Mallorca were great. Lots of the summer was taken up getting the house ready to sell. Then one day when we arrived home from the climbing wall, there was a note pushed through the letternox asking if we wanted to sell it. No estate agent required, we should complete by the end of September. 
We bought a house in the Peak, and on one of the trips to view it, went bouldering at Burbage South on the way back. First climbing in the Peak since we moved, and a real confirmation of our decision to come home.

Spent it all dreaming of winter , wondering "when will this awful weather end and the cold and snow come back!