June #siteofthemonth is Easter Bush, hosted by our colleagues at UKCEH Edinburgh, on improved grassland and a typical loamy mineral soil type at the Bush Estate at Penicuik. Near real-time data on how Easter Bush is faring in 2026 is at the Data page of the COSMOS-UK website, www.cosmos.ceh.ac.uk.

cosmos.ceh.ac.uk/sites/defaul... The COSMOS-UK soil moisture summary for the month of May 2026 is now available. Early May saw rain and windy conditions across the UK, before a period of higher pressure brought a record-breaking heatwave toward the end of the month.

Daily COSMOS-UK soil wetness status for the month of May 2026

May #siteofthemonth is Cockle Park, managed by @newcastleuni.bsky.social Farms and where strategic and adaptive research investigates questions around food security and sustainability. The soil type is mineral soil and the surroundings are used for growing cereals and oilseeds.

cosmos.ceh.ac.uk/sites/defaul... The April Soil Moisture summary is now available. April carried on the trend seen in March, with increasingly warm weather and significantly below average precipitation across England and Wales leading to many sites throughout the Midlands and South becoming dry.

Daily COSMOS-UK soil wetness status for the month of April 2026

April #siteofthemonth is Chobham Common, one of the largest National Nature Reserves in the South East and amongst the finest remaining lowland heaths in the world. It is managed by Surrey Wildlife Trust and home to 100 different bird species, including the very rare Dartford Warbler.

cosmos.ceh.ac.uk/sites/defaul... The March soil moisture summary is now available. Changeable weather brought below-average rainfall across England and Wales, which saw many sites becoming drier, particularly in the Midlands, Southern England and Wales.

Thanks to the eddy covariance technique and existing sensors across the network, the UKCEH team have produced sub-daily estimates of sensible heat flux (H), latent heat flux (LE), and evapotranspiration (ET) from 2014 to 2024 for 45 sites across the UK. Take a look here: doi.org/10.5285/c0b5...

Daily COSMOS-UK soil wetness status for the month of March 2026

March #siteofthemonth is Bunny Park, a farm run by the @uniofnottingham.bsky.social University of Nottingham to support their undergraduate courses in animal and veterinary science. The site is surrounded by arable crops on sandy to sandy loam soils.

cosmos.ceh.ac.uk/sites/defaul... The February soil moisture summary is now available. Above-average rainfall across most of the UK led to 95% of sites maintaining soil wetness or becoming wetter during February.

Fantastic new @ukceh.bsky.social dataset now out: 30-minute actual evapotranspiration from 45 sites for up to 10 years, with measurements co-located with rainfall and multiple soil moisture measurements from our @cosmosuk.bsky.social network over the same period: catalogue.ceh.ac.uk/documents/c0...

www.birmingham.ac.uk/events/water... Please join David Hannah and the University of Birmingham for this in-person and online free event to mark the UN World Water Day (22.03.26). 📅 16 March 2026 🕑 2:00–3:30 PM (UK time) 💻 Register to join online 📍 Elm House, Room G08, University of Birmingham, UK

Daily COSMOS-UK soil wetness status for the month of February 2026

fdri.org.uk/events/Feedb... Calling all practitioners and researchers with an interest in UK hydrological data! Do you want to learn about ways you can access FDRI (Floods and Droughts Research Infrastructure) data and discuss your needs for future access? If so, see details in link.

hydro-jules.org/data-driven-... Applications open on 02.03.26 for the Data Driven Approaches to Hydrological Science Summer School. A free online course for postgrads, ECRs, consultancies, monitoring agencies, industry profs to advance their understanding of data-driven hydrological science.

February #siteofthemonth is Hadlow, based at Hadlow College, Kent’s only rural college, offering an extensive range of land-based courses at all levels. The field is grazed grassland, part of a 57-hectare farm of grazing, arable crop and forage production.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJAb... COSMOS-UK was on the ITV News on 13 Feb 2026. (43 mins in). Dr Jon Evans describes the science behind the COSMOS-UK network, Jasmine Hughes talks about the high water levels in aquifers and a COSMOS-UK site owner explains the devastating effect of rainfall extremes.

cosmos.ceh.ac.uk/sites/defaul... The January 2026 soil moisture summary is now available. Higher-than-average rainfall in many regions has led to a soil moisture recovery across the COSMOS-UK network after a drier end to December.

audioboom.com/posts/885879... COSMOS-UK features in the latest episode of the UKCEH podcast, 'Counting the Earth' - go to 1 min 18 secs. Dr Jon Evans explains the nuclear physics behind the measurement of soil moisture at COSMOS-UK stations and why is it important to measure soil moisture at all.

Daily COSMOS-UK soil wetness status for the month of January 2026

The UKCEH’s COSMOS-UK network is designed to use low energy cosmic ray neutrons from the Sun and outer space to measure soil moisture. It also detects raised levels from energetic solar events that can impact critical infrastructure. Such an event was picked up in 2025. cosmos.ceh.ac.uk/News_Events

#siteofthemonth for Jan 2026 is Bickley Hall Farm, a 210-acre organic working farm/HQ of Cheshire Wildlife Trust in rural Cheshire. It's wildlife-friendly ethos supports hundreds of feeding farmland birds. A great venue for environmental education field trips. Soils are sands and sandy loams.

cosmos.ceh.ac.uk/sites/defaul... The December 2025 soil moisture summary is now available. The soil moisture recovery across the COSMOS-UK network largely stalled during a drier spell late in December.

Daily COSMOS-UK soil wetness status for the month of December 2025

Daily COSMOS-UK soil wetness status for the month of November 2025

December #siteofthemonth is Plynlimon, one of the oldest sites in the COSMOS-UK network, having hosted environmental monitoring equipment since the 1960s. It is also one of the highest, at 529m in the Cambrian Mountains, on high organic content soil, supporting semi-natural grassland.

cosmos.ceh.ac.uk/sites/defaul... Soil moisture summary for November 2025 is now available. November saw above-average rainfall throughout the UK, leading to continued increases in soil moisture across all COSMOS-UK sites.

www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/... ONLY 3 more days to catch the BBC Radio 4 Farming Today programme featuring the science behind the COSMOS-UK network and how the data is used to inform research on soil moisture patterns and projections on the impact of climate change.

November #siteofthemonth is Spen Farm, at the University of Leeds ‘Smart Farm’, a research farm working with industry and academics to tackle modern agricultural challenges. The farm hosts a range monitoring research tools alongside COSMOS-UK to measure the impact of agriculture on the environment.

cosmos.ceh.ac.uk/resources/mo... The October soil moisture summary is now available. October saw increases in soil moisture across much of the UK, with conditions steadily moving back towards typical autumn levels.

Daily COSMOS-UK soil wetness status for the month of October 2025

www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/... On Radio 4's Farming Today programme today, UKCEH Micrometeorologist, Dr Jonathan Evans, discusses how the COSMOS-UK cosmic ray neutrons science works to measure soil moisture, soil moisture trends this year and how climate change will impact UK farming in the future.

October #siteofthemonth is Loddington, East Midlands, run by the Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust Allerton Project, researching new farming methods so that commercial farming and environmental rejuvenation can co-exist. The clay soils protected crops from the worst of this year’s dry conditions.

cosmos.ceh.ac.uk/sites/defaul... The September soil moisture summary is now available - see link below. September's wet conditions helped soil moisture recovery across norther and western regions, but southern COSMOS-UK sites remained notably dry.

Daily COSMOS-UK soil wetness for the month of September 2025.

Our September siteofthemonth is Cwm Garw, on the southern side of the Preseli Mountains in Pembrokeshire, on a sheep farm, run by independent landowners. We are always grateful to the support of our site hosts – be they part of a large estate, a farming collaborative or operating single-handedly.

cosmos.ceh.ac.uk/sites/defaul... Our COSMOS-UK Soil Moisture Summary for August 2025 is now available. Despite some recovery in July, soil moisture levels across the COSMOS-UK network remained dry at many sites throughout August, reflecting below-average rainfall and warm temperatures.

app.onlinesurveys.jisc.ac.uk/s/ceh-online... UKCEH is undertaking a deep dive review, on behalf of NERC, into the National Capability funded long-term environmental terrestrial and freshwater monitoring currently undertaken in the UK. Please complete the survey by 9am Monday 29th September.

August #siteofthemonth is Gisburn Forest, managed by bsky.app/profile/fore... a leading research agency focusing on sustainable forestry and adaptive practices in a time of environmental and climate change. The site at Gisburn lies at the eastern edge of the Forest of Bowland, on rough grassland.

cosmos.ceh.ac.uk/sites/defaul... Our latest soil moisture summary (for the month of August) is now published and shows a partial recovery after a very dry period, but some sites, especially in the South, remain drier than usual.

www.britishecologicalsociety.org/content/nati... Register now for the National Environment Monitoring Conference. The aim is to co-create a national UK environmental monitoring community with a collective vision to drive greater impact and deliver evidence-based outcomes in environmental management

cosmos.ceh.ac.uk/sites/defaul... Our latest monthly soil moisture summary - for June 2025 - is now out. As expected, it shows soil moisture levels across most of the COSMOS-UK network have remained very dry.

A small step towards a global soil moisture network was made when the COSMOS-UK team demonstrated the COSMOS-UK test site at UKCEH Wallingford to meteorologists from Ghana. The visitors hope that, with UKCEH collaboration and support, Ghana will be able to establish a similar network of its own.

July #siteofthemonth is Glensaugh, the most northerly and highest of the COSMOS-UK network. This research farm, run by @hutton.ac.uk, is developing innovative climate-positive farming practices to achieve net-zero (or negative) carbon whilst protecting natural assets and financial sustainability.

Registration is now open for the 'Land and water in a changing climate' event. This event on 24 September at the Royal Society will bring together modellers, industry and practitioners to share new developments and visions for the future. Register today - enterprise.mitingu.com/ceh-events/l...

Last week we welcomed Glenn Watts, new Associate Director for Water & Climate Science, to the COSMOS-UK site at Sheepdrove – seen here with technical lead Phil Vincent. Glenn learned about the monitoring network, heard about its successes to date and the challenges as it enters its second decade.

June #siteofthemonth is Henfaes, part of the Henfaes Research Centre, Bangor University, where research takes place at sea-level up to some of the highest points of Eryri National Park (Snowdonia), sponsored by stakeholders such as DEFRA, Welsh Government, NERC, the EU and industry.