Reasons for hope: Humans and Nature together show resilience in the face of UK heatwaves
By Hannah Shaw
Have you been feeling the heat recently? If so, that’s not surprising - it’s forecast to be, yet again, the UK’s hottest summer since records began - and ahead of what could be the country’s sixth heatwave this year, I’m starting to wonder if the term heat ’wave’ can really be applied anymore.It’s just hot.
Aside from that, it’s been an incredibly dry year. Lengthy droughts have led to visible changes in the landscape, not to mention the influx of wildfires that blazed across the country last month.It’s led me to wonder at the extent of the long-term consequences on nature that might result from all this - as well as the human cost, here in Eynsham.
Nationally, the impact of heat and drought extremes on plants is having a knock-on effect on British wildlife. Vegetative stress on trees is causing ‘false Autumns’, where fruit ripens early and smaller, and leaves are shed unseasonably to preserve water. This leaves young plants and animals without shade and shelter from the sun, and no food source for birds and mammals to store up reserves for the winter, according to the Woodland Trust. 1
As grasses turn from green to brown, the feed plants for invertebrates disappear, caterpillars are scorched, and bumblebees with furry coats are unable to forage without overheating. Dry ground means mammals such as badgers and hedgehogs can’t dig for food, amphibians have no places to shelter, and species across the board suffer from dehydration. Birds in particular are vulnerable, as they have a high core body temperature, feathers, and easily lose water from panting to keep cool. It’s all very anxiety-inducing to learn about, especially as scientists warn that heat extremes in the UK are forecast to continue increasing in frequency and intensity. Part of the issue is that British plants aren’t adapted to survive long periods of drought, year on year, unlike more resilient Mediterranean species.
Satellite images from the BBC show the extent of vegetative stress on Hyde Park this summer, compared to last year. Source: BBC News / Planet Labs PBC 2
With all this as context, I mostly wanted to know the extent to which the heatwaves have impacted local biodiversity and conservation, in particular our precious floodplain meadow habitat that the Nature Recovery Network has been working so hard to restore.
Well, that's where the hope comes in! For while it’s too early to report on the results of this year’s invertebrate surveys, or say for definite if animal species have been affected, Long Mead itself has proved to be a remarkable example of drought resilience in the face of prolonged heat. Catriona Bass, founder and director, explained that the deep-rooted nature of ancient floodplain meadow species (such as our favorite Great Burnet and Bird’s-Foot-Trefoil), some reaching a good 2m into to earth, means they are able to survive when other meadow species might not, as they can access lower levels of the water table. As a result, our meadows act almost as ‘natural sponges’ that store water during droughts, in turn protecting bordering habitats and offering an area of refuge for species that suffer during heatwaves.
It’s the resilience of restored meadows that is particularly encouraging to see - after 50 days without rain, it was noticeable to see just how quickly the land at Long Mead returned to being green and lush, while the surrounding parched landscape lagged behind. As our climate changes and droughts become more extreme, this ability to bounce back is paramount.
The evidence for rewilding is proven, too, as aerial photos here illustrate - they show how restored areas at the degraded edges of Long Mead have stayed green, while non-restored habitat has not.
Long Mead and Swinford Meadows from above, taken 11th August 2026 © Kevan Martin
I’ve noticed, too, that restoration areas the NRN has within the village of Eynsham - such as the Fishponds and Dovehouse Close - and Christchurch Meadows, in Oxford, have fared well despite the heat this year, providing the community with much needed natural spaces while other areas of parkland turn beige and brown.
Left: Long Mead from the ground contrasts brown Beacon Hill. Right: Biodiversity at Fishponds NRN restoration area, including a Marbled White butterfly among Greater Knapweed, July 2026 © Hannah Shaw
Left: South Park on Aug 20th as opposed to Christchurch Meadows, 2 days prior © Hannah Shaw
The Bigger Picture
What’s made me the most positive, though, is hearing that we at Long Mead are no longer the outlier. We are a part of a pattern of protected and rewilded sites reporting resilience during the summer’s droughts. Take, for example, the National Trust’s Holnicote estate in Somerset, where rivers have been restored to their natural courses as part of efforts to restore wetlands, and Knepp estate in West Sussex.
According to a recent article in the Guardian, more than 90 percent of the UK’s wetlands have been lost over the last century, and as Long Mead shows, restoring them can be a key part of improving the country’s climate security. Ben Eardly, the estate manager at Holnicote, describes them as ‘essential infrastructure’, that not only stores water during droughts, protects against wildfires, and provides food security for humans and nature, but also acts to slow water during heavy rainfall, thus mitigating from flooding downstream.3 With climate change related extreme weather repeatedly making headlines, with more frequent floods, heatwaves and droughts predicted for the coming years, it's never been more vital to invest in nature restoration.
(Read more about the success at Holnicote here:
Evapotranspiration is the combination of plant transpiration plus evaporation directly from soils surrounding the plant. Iredale, L (2024) Environmental Geology CC BY-4.0
Aside from extreme weather, one of the greatest ‘ecosystem services’ provided by floodplain meadows is their cooling effect on the surrounding area. The shading, light reflection and water retention offered by meadow plants, along with released moisture from evapotranspiration, offers relief in the heat. Even more exciting, then, that we were able to share our evidence for nature restoration with the recently appointed Secretary of State for the Environment this August, as well as representatives from DEFRA - and that The Thames Valley Wildflower Meadow Restoration Project (TVWMRP) has recently been recognised as a strategic project for Oxfordshire’s Local Nature Recovery Strategy.
I’m proud, and grateful, to have been a part of the Thames Valley Water Meadow Restoration Project over the past year. It makes me even happier that we might inspire similar action for wildlife recovery beyond our own meadows - by proving what’s possible when communities work with nature, rather than against it.
Human resilience
On the flipside to this, NRNrs are aware that it's been far from plain sailing for rewilding this summer. Unlike the meadow, our younger seedlings in the orchard are much more susceptible to drought, and it’s been down to an impressive effort from the plant propagation group, and watering team especially, that’s ensured the vast majority of them have survived ready to be planted out and take their places as part of the vital aforementioned floodplain meadow restoration process.
Wetland plants, such as Marsh Marigold and Water Dropwort, are most at risk.
Anna Collins, who runs the watering group at Long Mead, described the season as “a struggle”, adding that “despite everyone’s brilliant efforts, in the heat everything dried out so quickly everyday, and plants are very vulnerable after being potted on - we have inevitably had some losses.”
The more successful we are at seed-sowing, the more work there is with watering! I learnt from Catriona that it could take over 6 hours to water the whole orchard of seedlings, and that with the lengthy drought, extra rounds had to be undertaken. We are all very grateful to the helping hands lended by Sophie - a recent school leaver - and Louise, a university graduate, this year. In addition, the Long Mead Foundation has had to invest in additional netting to help shade the young plants, an added cost to the operation.
On top of this, we’ve had to postpone some of this year’s community meadow days and even survey work due to the adverse weather this year, for example Long Mead’s butterfly survey transect. It’s just been too hot, even with the cooling effect of the meadow. NRN volunteers, hardy souls as they are, are impacted just as any other species.
Further afield, national headlines of nature sites ablaze with wildfires, from the Cairngorns to the New Forest, are big setbacks in the fight to protect UK wildlife. This article from Natural England elaborates:
https://naturalengland.blog.gov.uk/2026/08/10/fighting-fire-with-nature-how-healthy-landscapes-re duce-wildfire-risk/ 4 It’s been nail-biting to watch, considering that many of our own restoration sites are open to public access and thus at risk of fires. It raises questions for the future - should we be considering our own emergency meadow-fire plan?
Anxious times and uncertain futures, then. So it’s even more vital that we get to rewilding and protecting what we already have. If this summer has proven anything, it’s that meadow restoration work is necessary, right now, and its communities like ours that make it happen. As the rain finally
returns and we all breathe a sigh of relief, we should celebrate our hard work. We currently have thousands of propagated seedlings waiting to be planted out in the Autumn. They are the product of NRN volunteers’ care and determination, and show that many hands coming together can make a big difference.
Photos from the plant-propagation orchard from June, July and August this year.
Many thanks to Catriona Bass, Anna Collins and Kevan Martin, as well as the members of the Wednesday Plant propagation group and Long Mead Watering group, for their help in researching and inspiring me :)
References
1 https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/blog/2026/07/how-heatwaves-affect-wildlife/ Woodland trust website, accessed 15.09.26
2 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c5y3v7xz52yo BBC News website accessed 15.09.26
3https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/aug/21/somerset-rewilding-holnicote-estate-wetla
nds-rivers-resilience The Guardian accessed 15.09.26
4https://naturalengland.blog.gov.uk/2026/08/10/fighting-fire-with-nature-how-healthy-landscapes-re
duce-wildfire-risk/ Natural England website, accessed 15.09.26