Hi! Pippin here, safely recovered from the horrible heatwave.

It was only four and a half days, but it was extra hot on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. Wednesday there was a new temperature record set for the UK in June, and it was set at Gosport, which is only about 20 miles away. It’s next to one of Mummy’s bird survey sites. Then Thursday it was hotter, and a new record was set in Kent. It felt hot in our house, and Mummy put the blowy post going so at least the air moved about and made it feel like there was a breeze.

Friday it was officially cooler here, and the new record was nearer where Mummy used to live, close to the East Anglian Rescue. We hope my Mummy, Daddy and sisters were okay. Mummy exchanged emails with them this week, because she thought she’d tell them about my ribs. We went to the vet on Monday for check-ups, and Dr Rebekah says I am just showing signs of age. But my East Anglia family aren’t, well not much, although we’re all four years old now. Except, mummy, Skittles, and one of my sisters have both had bladder stones, and so have I.

Another thing Mummy did to keep us cool was to put a squishy cold thing in our runs, wrapped in a towel. It wasn’t squishy to start with, but it got squishier and the towel got damp, and it was nice to lean on. We went out in the garden very late in the evening, when it was about the same temperature outside and in. That was nice. Mummy saw some interesting butterflies and dragonflies as well. And when we were out she spent most of her time filling up her green container and pouring water onto the plants. But she said even with all her efforts to keep us cool, she can’t do it if the temperatures stay hot at night. That was why Friday actually felt the worst, because it never got down to a good temperature in our room, even with the window-door open all night.

Mummy knows about these things from the work she used to do, and she says we’ll have more heatwaves like this, and worse. She’s going to look into getting something that actually cools the air, not just blows it about. But we can manage on our cool packs, Mummy, it’s good for now.

So I hope you didn’t have a horrible hot time, although I think many of our aunties in America are used to much worse.

But yesterday was just right, and we went out in the afternoon as usual. Fingers and toes crossed that we have a nice few weeks now. Although I have to uncross them to walk.

Keep well,

love

Pippin xxx