It is 40 years since the long hot summer of 1976 and to mark the anniversary, we take a look back with TV weatherman John Hammond. He meets farmer Graham Hunter Blair, who kept a comprehensive record of that summer's drought. John then heads for the woods to meet ecologist Dr George Peterken and Professor Alistair Jump, who show him the damage done to beech trees by the long hot summer. And he learns that trees are still suffering the effects. The River Wye was hit hard too, shrinking to a trickle. John meets George Woodward, who was a water bailiff back in 1976. George remembers seeing salmon struggle in the shallow waters and recounts how poachers had a field day. John talks to Stephen Marsh Smith, whose work with the Wye and Usk Foundation is helping to restore the river's fish stocks. And Matthew Oates from the National Trust tells us it wasn't all bad news. The summer of 1976 was a boom time for insects. We also rerun some of Countryfile's best weather-related stories
