Rainbow Taoiseach charms DUP. Unharvested food and Black Squirrels

The raindrops in the currently temperate UK are in stark contrast to the heat wave experienced by many Southern EU locals and UK holiday makers (assuming they get through the security check delays). With temperatures exceeding 40 degC, a prolonged drought and numerous forest fires, is this a portent of future weather with climate change? The US has initiated its exit from the Climate change agreement (though it will still follow decisions until it finalises the exit), so no help expected there now.

Closer to home, the Irish Taoiseach continues to endear himself to the religiously conservative DUP by attending the LGBT Rainbow march in Northern Ireland and assuring that the country will surely join the 21st century on this issue in the near future.

Rotten unharvested food in our fields? John Harris picks up on the food security issue in today's online Guardian. With harvesting of fruit and vegetables being highly dependent on migrant workers, the double whammy of a lower pound (less earnings) and an apparently hostile Brexit minded UK has already led to difficulties.  Thirty percent of agencies supplying workers claim that they do not expect to be able to find sufficient workers. This mirrors concerns from organisations ranging from Hops Labour Solutions to the National Farmers Union.

Well, Jane and I will have to go out and harvest some of the free blackberries and other fruits in hedgerows and parks that we saw ripening on a walk back through the Milton Country Park, to combat the likely 20% hike in fruit and veg prices this Autumn.

Unusual sighting of the day - a black squirrel hopping along the fence, the first I've seen. These are variants of the now ubiquitous grey squirrel.  Two interesting facts - they used to be the dominant squirrel form in the US prior to major deforestation as they survive better in dense forests. The second fact being that there has been a black squirrel population around Girton since the 1990s. The gene conferring the black coloration is additive, with a single copy of the gene giving rise to brown black individuals, whilst having two copies of the gene results in the dark black form. The gene is actually a mutation that stops the squirrels turning grey with a white stripe. Present in the UK since first sighted in Letchworth in 1912, the population is growing.