The coldest place in Britain
January 8th, 2010 | by Nick |
The tiny hamlet of Altnaharra (Scottish Gaelic: Allt na h-Eirbhe) has been making the news these days as the coldest place in Britain with temperatures dropping as low as -21.6ºC last night. Altnaharra, which means Stream at the boundary wall in Gaelic, also holds the equal absolute equal record for the coldest ever temperatures in the UK (together with Braemar (Aberdeenshire), thanks to its northerly latitude and inland location. On December 30, 1995 the mercury dropped to a parky -27.2ºC. Let’s see if this record is beaten this year…
Wikipedia reports, interestingly, that on the 20th March 2009, Altnaharra was actually the warmest place in the UK, recording 18.5°C. This was the weather station’s warmest recorded March temperature, and possibly the first time the station had recorded the warmest UK temperature. On the same day, it also recorded the second coldest overnight temperature in the UK, at -3°C, giving an indication of how quickly weather conditions can change in remote areas.
Fears about the impact of last December’s severe weather, the coldest in 100 years, were unfounded. The drop in small bird populations witnessed in the 
The oldest osprey of the UK – and probably the world – has returned to her eyrie in the Scottish highlands. When she left for West Africa at the end of last summer, no one expected her to return. At 26 she’s lived 3 times longer than most female ospreys. In her life she’s laid 58 eggs and hatched 48 chicks, a massive individual contribution to the survival of ospreys in Scotland, where there are still only about 200 breeding pairs. The questions now are if her mate will return and if she is still fertile. Events can be followed on the 
The construction company currently finishing off the Shard building in London, which will be the UK’s tallest skyscraper, recently had to call the council to remove a squatter from the 72nd floor: a young fox. He was surviving on scraps left by builders. After a check-up at the Riverside Animal Centre, the fox has been released on the streets of Bermondsey, having shown the type of curiosity we associate with cats. 
Otters, water voles and fish are all benefitting from the improved quality of the UK’s waterways, now described as the cleanest since the industrial revolution. Since almost disappearing from the wild in the 1970s, otters are thriving, particularly in the south west of England, Cumbria and Northumberland. The population of water voles, highly precarious in the 1990s, is also beginning to recover. The good results of stricter pollution controls and extensive conservation work are set to continue in the new year with the introduction of new European water quality directives. 
