Our current drought, so far, is not as long as the historic 1976 event, but it is about 3°C hotter than back in 1976, which was then considered a once-in-500-year occurrence. Currently, 2026 has been a fast developing ‘flash drought’; like a flash flood, but with record low rainfall and more 30°C + days. July 2026 set a record as the driest July for England and Wales since records began. Bury St Edmunds received no meaningful rain; 3.5mm according to a members’ rain gauge and it’s been very localised.

It now means there have been three droughts in the past five years – 2022, 2025 and 2026. It feels very much like a Climate Emergency. Dunwich Heath has just suffered Suffolk’s largest ever fire, ripping through precious and rare wildlife, so much of which is also in crisis.

The impact of drought harms our rivers Lark and Linnet and the creatures that depend on them. Low water shrinks habitat for river-based creatures such as water voles; hard banks become more difficult to excavate a burrow and the drop into the water is further. Warmer water holds less dissolved oxygen bringing fish to the surface more often, making them vulnerable to predators. Less oxygen disrupts aquatic life too, on which all other life depends. Some compounds are more toxic to aquatic life at higher temperatures.

Due to higher concentration of pollutants in warmer, shallower water, a thick green carpet of duckweed and other nutrient
-loving weeds develops. We can see this in the Lark regularly now, and it was very evident on the surface of the water vole habitat at Police Station ditch (PSD) in No Man’s Meadow. PSD has now completely dried out and it remains to be seen if the duckweed will disappear, which will be a silver lining of sorts! One day I noticed several white butterflies ‘puddling’ in the drying out mud in the channel. This is something I have noticed butterflies doing in Europe; they are feeding on the salts that are left behind in the rapidly evaporating water. The Scrape at Ram meadow is particularly green and gungy at the moment but the water level seems to be constant, so it must be fed from a source that isn’t tapped-into for human use!

Swimming in thick pea soup can’t be easy for small lightweight creatures like water vole or coot. Soils have dried out and are baked hard. So when rain returns, and it’s likely to be heavy, much of it will run away.

Crisis comes from the ancient Greek word krisis, meaning a turning point, where a body tips toward recovery or death. This was the moment when ancient physicians said intervention could no longer wait. Scientists have been telling us for years that we must intervene and limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels. This is the basis for a legally binding international treaty called The Paris Agreement. Many nations have debated this since 2015 but the best they have come up with is net zero by 2050. Kicking the can down the road.

Add the fact that we are probably in an El Niño year and a super El Niño at that, this all supercharges the hot and dry conditions.

“CO₂ in the air is a problem. It’s a symptom that too much carbon is missing from living soils and ecosystems. Like money still sitting in an account, just the password forgotten. The password is plants. Restore forests, regenerate soils, cycle biomass faster than it burns or decomposes, and the carbon flows back into systems that build soil, hold water, cool land, and nourish life. It’s about rebuilding the living processes that regulate the planet”. So said Dr. Zach Bush, an integrative medicine physician and educator who frequently shares thoughts on regenerative agriculture, soil health, and living systems.

He says Nature always heals itself. The existential question is whether we help it do so in time.