I’ve just been looking at the rainfall data for my area: 1mm on 2 July, 0.4mm on 17 July, 0.8mm on 25 July and a few very welcome showers on 4 August that seemed to have given us an accumulation of about 4mm, and that’s it for the last seven weeks. And, today, our fifth heatwave of the year has just ended, with temperatures dropping to the mid-20°s Celsius. It’s little wonder then that drought was officially declared for the whole of Wales at the end of July.

Nature is struggling, to say the least, but there are some plants that are remarkably drought and heat tolerant, and the one that I’m noticing most often during my walks is Common fleabane (Pulicaria dysenterica).

During today’s walk I revisited the wildflower meadow I featured here two Sundays ago, A meadow full of Painted ladies. All the gorgeous Knapweed that had attracted the Painted lady butterflies had gone to seed but the Common fleabane remained, as full of life and vibrant as two weeks ago. Though some flowers had gone over, buds were still opening on most plants.

Even better, that fleabane was feeding a lot of little creatures, from butterflies and a few moth species, to hoverflies, flies and bees, as well as various bugs, both adults and nymphs. It made me feel a little more hopeful that some of our wonderful wildlife will survive this difficult weather.

When I noticed yesterday how well the fleabane was surviving, I started taking photos of the creatures I was seeing on it, and I continued that theme today. During a series of blogs this week, I’ll share what I’ve found.