Sorry to hear that Sunshine. That sounds like a lack of oxygen in the water, made worse by the sun and heat. Did you have a pump/fountain in the pond ?

Thunderstorm just to my west/north west. Some lightning visible and a few rumbles of thunder. Very slow moving storm cell which I would say is heading approximately south west from the Rickmansworth area. Still no rain here yet though.

Moley

I heard it was raining in Ickenham for an hour this evening. Also, somebody in the Red Lion (Hillingdon Hill) said they felt a few drops of rain. It doesn't seem to have arrived in Cowley though.

Moley, our pond has a filter and a fairly new pump and we only cleaned it out and did a partial water change a few weeks ago (leaving it crystal clear)

We have had fish in the pond for many years and this has left us feeling very disappointed. We are going to take the pond out now. We took out the lily that was in there and liberated it at Little Britain lake this morning when we took the dog out.

I can understand your disappointment re the fish Sunshine, and I am at a bit of a loss to explain how that happened given your pond is filtered and and has a pump. Excuse me for asking the obvious but have you had the pump operating during this spell of warm and sunny weather ??

Algae builds up very quickly in ponds exposed to sun, and that rapidly chokes off the oxygen supply. To overcome that you really need to have the pump operating more or less constantly in conditions like this to replenish the oxygen supply.

Moley

** Wednesday July 17th 2013**

The warmest day of the year so far with Raf Northolt recording 32.0c ( 90f ) and Heathrow 31.9c. Thunderstorms in the region eventually lowered temperatures by a degree or two later this evening.

Yesterday most of the computer models were suggesting that the temperatures may rise further, but I have my doubts. It will definately remain warm for at least the next week, but there are growing signals for a thundery spell of weather to head our way from the south. Something I will be keeping my eye on.

Moley.

No rain for me nor did I hear any thunder, well not outdoors anyway

The Met office are showing temperatures lowering over the next few days with Saturday a max of 24. That's more like it.

_________________
Lets be careful out there !

No rain here either which means we are having to distill water for our carnivorous plants. Our barrels are almost dry.

Moley, we never turn the pump and filter off. I agree it sounds like lack of oxygen and don't think the hot weather helped although the pond is shaded by a fence and an apple tree from the worst of the sun.

Thats really quite baffling then Sunshine. It certainly sounds as though you have done everything absolutely right pond-wise. .

The rain from yesterday evenings thunderstorms was very localised. It remained bone dry here but my neighbour confirmed that just a mile up the road the rain was torrential for a time. According to a number of reliable reports I have seen, the storm cells which trundled just to the west/north west of London and down into Berkshire were visible from places as far apart as the Midlands and Hampshire, indicating that the cloud tops reached hights in excess of 25,000 feet, and probably higher.

Heathrow has today reported a maximum of 28.9c, making this the 13th consecutive day where the temperature has reached or exceeded 28c somewhere in the UK. Overnight 'minimum' temperatures at Heathrow have varied between 17.3c and 18.6c for the last 5 nights. Phew !!

Some more details for July 1st-16th courtesy of Climate-Uk.com:

The CET ( Central England Temperature ) is currently above average for the the first time this year, rainfall totals for England and Wales are 14% of average, and sunshine totals are 160% of average.

http://www.climate-uk.com/

My thoughts on the outlook will follow later, but in the meantime thanks as always for reading and posting. Moley

The current forecasted max tomorrow (Sat) is 24°C.

That will be nice

_________________
Lets be careful out there !

It's lovely today. Warm with a breeze. I don't mind the heat if we get a breeze to go with it