autumn and although it will feel warm by the weekend, it will feel pretty autumnal with wet, windy weather affecting more western parts of the country. we ve got high pressure dominating the scene today, a few weather fronts across the south. they brought showers to south east england, the odd heavy one in hampshire and berkshire. further north, an odd shower but most places dry. the best of the sunshine across the north and it will feel quite warm, low 20s for many, up to the mid 20s in the south east, quite breezy across southern areas. the showers get going across southern areas, more widespread, the odd heavy one, rumbles of thunder, showers in the far north west of the uk as well. in warmer air mass so not quite as chilly across scotland as the last few nights. for friday, high pressure dominates the scene but we ve been closed in by the weather fronts, one in the south bringing showers to england and wales, some heavy once for south west scotland and northern ireland, b
engagement of the natural world right on our doorstep. a great weekend to visit places like this, the rspb reserve at dungeness. it is a wetland environment, so we have got lakes, read bushes, wildflower meadows as well. this area is home to 200 bird species, some coming and going throughout the year and others live here all year round. notjust birds, we have been looking at the biggest species of leech anywhere in the uk which grows to 20 centimetres. a really important unique habitat here and many places like this across our wild aisles, and it is a great weekend to get out and it is a great weekend to get out and visit them. so how is the weather looking across the uk for the easter weekend? we start off on a reasonably dry and quiet note, there is going to be a lot of dry weather on the cards with some sunny spells around as well. likely to see something is changing by the time we get to easter monday as we turn a wet and windy. for good friday
and crannies to hide in, and then from there they ll kind of go off and hopefully meet up with some of the other water voles we re going to be releasing. water voles were once common here, but they were almost totally wiped out by a non native species, the american mink, which escaped or were released from fur farms in the 80s, including this one near ringwood. but in many places, the mink have now been eradicated, giving water voles another chance. water voles are an important species in the wetland environment, really, they act as a prey species for lots of our native predators and also their burrow systems will create habitat for a number of other species as well. notjust invertebrates, but also amphibians, reptiles use them as well. it s hoped that many of the water voles released here will on to breed. there s about a month left of the breeding season this year and then next year, the females could have one or two litters. if they re successful, well, then the population of wate