Volunteers with the Herts and Middlesex Wildlife Trust have recorded a string of rare and long-absent species at nature reserves across Hertfordshire this summer, which the trust attributes partly to unusually hot weather and partly to increased surveying effort. Notable sightings include a great white egret near Ware and more than 300 Chalkhill blue butterflies at Hexton Chalk Pit near Hitchin, where a glow-worm was also found for the first time in 25 years. The trust says such records help it understand how species are responding to environmental change and inform how its reserves are managed.

The St Albans-based trust manages more than 40 reserves covering nearly 810 hectares across Hertfordshire and Middlesex, and reports that grasshoppers and butterflies thrived in the heat while bumblebees and hoverflies struggled. Its Herts Invertebrate Project, running since 2015, made several notable finds, including a planthopper never before recorded in the county, a leafhopper not seen since 1916, another absent since 1976, and a nationally rare money spider. Jersey Tiger moths and Hummingbird Hawk-moths, previously associated with warmer regions further south, are also increasingly being seen in Hertfordshire.