BARBECUES, beer and bottled water were sold by the thousand. Those on holiday wandered around in shorts and no shirts, while those at work loosened their ties and wafted paper at their faces as Britain's stiff upper lip melted in the heat of a sweltering August.

The summer of 2003 might finally replace the ladybird boom of 1976 as the standard against which all hot weather is judged.

But while we got sticky and irritable as we sat in the extra traffic caused by railways buckling in the heat, the natural world moved up a gear, producing tropical species and unusual varieties in abundance all over the county.

A mystery plant that has always been known as "the thing" has suddenly started producing kiwi fruit in one Weymouth garden.

Michael Parker bought the unknown climbing plant 20 years ago from a local garden centre to cover up a bit of wall. For 19 years that's all it did.

Then last year he decided to extend his fishpond and at the beginning of this year's growing season he started to train the plant across the pond to give a bit of shade. Then the hot weather kicked in and it started growing properly - about a foot a week.

The flowers that followed shortly afterwards were soon replaced by small hairy fruit.

"They look like kiwi fruit, but I'm never too sure," said Michael, 59, who admits to being a little apprehensive about sampling the fruits of his garden labour. "If I were sure they were kiwi fruit, I'd definitely eat them. I'm very surprised by them. I'm not particularly green fingered, I just chuck things in the ground," he said.

Already besieged by requests for cuttings of the plant, Michael jokes that he could be on to a real money-spinner when he finally harvests his bumper crop.

"They'll be queuing up and down the road to buy these six or seven," he said.

If anyone can positively identify the plant as a kiwi fruit vine, Michael would love them to get in touch.

Lizards

The hot weather was also good news for another species not normally native to these shores when a colony of European green lizards was seen on a Dorset clifftop.

Usually found in the hotter parts of southern Europe, several hundred of the lizards - lacerta viridis - were spotted by reptile expert Dr Chris Gleed-Owen as he walked to work at the Herpetological Conservation Trust in Bournemouth.

The lizards are a vivid green with a blue throat and can grow up to a foot in length. Their eggs only hatch in hot weather.

Dr. Gleed Owen thinks the first lizards must have been pets that were abandoned on the cliff, which have - against the odds - established themselves.

"It is amazing because they are living just yards from where thousands of tourists spend their summer and people walk past them carrying buckets and spades and don't realise that they are there.

"It is important because they could spread and become established species in Britain.

"The species is protected and considered vulnerable in Europe, but not here because they are not native," he said.

From the lacertilian to the lepidopteran and tropical summer temperatures have resulted in a boom in Britain's butterfly population, according to a Dorset-based butterfly group.

Butterfly Conservation, the largest insect conservation charity in Europe, says thanks to the hot weather an astonishing amount of rare butterflies have been spotted all over the UK, with many unusual species being seen in Dorset.

Varieties such as the chalkhill blue, the dingy skipper, the small blue and the adonis blue have been seen across the county in unprecedented numbers.

Richard Fox, surveys manager at Butterfly Conservation, says the dingy skipper and the small blue usually appear in May and June, but if the weather is good enough a further generation can be born later in the summer.

"Both these species have produced a second brood this year and I saw quite a lot when I was down at Lulworth Cove recently," he said.

The charity says the adonis blue has had a particularly good year. One lepidopterist volunteer counted 959 specimens in one day at Fontmell Down near Blandford - more in a single day than in any whole year since records began in 1980.

"The adonis blue needs really short grass and really hot weather to live. Lots of organisations have been trying to improve the patches of chalk down in Dorset on which this butterfly thrives," said Richard.

"The butterfly has responded by spreading out into new habitats. This is exactly what you need from something that is part of a national conservation project."

Migrant butterflies have also had a spectacular year and gardeners have been treated to the sight of masses of North African painted ladies and small tortoiseshells swarming around their buddleia.

Richard Fox says the hot weather has certainly played a large part in the butterfly boom and another hot summer will see even more of them next year, but only if their habitats are successfully preserved.

"Butterfly numbers are governed by the weather, but without the protection and management of their habitats, many species would be lost altogether.

"So many people work hard every year to conserve our declining butterflies, whether in their gardens, on farmland or in nature reserves and this is pay back on all that investment.

"When hard work by conservationists, landowners and the general public coincides with great weather, our butterflies are able to win back some of the ground they have lost," he said.

A creature often seen as the butterfly's poor relation, the moth, has also had an excellent summer.

The hummingbird hawk moth - literally a moth that looks like a hummingbird - prefers to fly around during the day, especially in bright sunlight. It spends much of the day visiting flowers with an abundant supply of nectar, such as honeysuckle, jasmine and lilac.

Darting

The moth, which has a brown, white-spotted abdomen, brown forewings and orange hindwings, is about two inches in diameter. The wings beat so rapidly that they produce a humming sound and can only be seen as a haze.

Darting rapidly from one flower to the next, the hummingbird hawk moth uses its long proboscis to suck nectar from strongly scented flowers while it hovers.

Abundant in central and Eastern Asia, the moths make an occasional appearance in the UK, and thanks to this year's heat, numbers have flourished.

An altogether less benign winged creature that has done well in Dorset is the wasp. Three rare "winged assassins" are thriving in the county, wildlife wardens have said.

Forestry Commission wildlife ranger Mark Warn says he is thrilled at the growing number of threatened wasps living in Wareham Forest.

He reckons 2003 has been a bumper year for three killer wasp species that are all included in the Red Data book of creatures in danger of extinction.

Mr Warn said the growing numbers reflect the all-out effort going into creating the right kinds of habitat for the creatures in the woodland.

But he warns that the fortunes of the wasps could falter if future summers turn wet.

Mr. Warn, said: "The 'bee wolf' wasp slays honey bees for its young to feed on. And any spider that has a Homonotus sanguinolentus egg laid on it is in for a grisly end as the wasp grub eats a path through its body.

"Purbeck mason wasps do something equally horrible to the heathland moths they parasitise. And they are all thriving in Wareham Forest.

"These insects all have murderous lifestyles and all are equally fascinating to study. Luckily, they're completely harmless to people.

"Our biggest concern is that they will still be here for future generations to marvel at."

Mr. Warn said that his job was to guide his forestry colleagues into managing the county woodlands to the wasps' advantage.

He said that ongoing habitat improvement gave the insects the best possible chance of surviving and producing young during bad weather years that wiped many of them out in the past.

Further information on the sort of wildlife thriving in Forestry Commission woodland is available from the commission's website at the following: www.forestry.gov.uk.