The weather has been unseasonably chilly over the jubilee weekend but even so, no one expected hail in Wales. When John Myers heard banging on his patio door on Saturday evening he couldn't think what it was.
Looking out he saw hail stones "the size of garden peas and a bit bigger" raining down. Going into his garden in St Mellons, near Newport to take a look John noticed something spinning just above ground - a bat had been hit by one of the large summer hailstones and landed on the grass in front of him.
Read more: Met Office updates thunderstorm warning for Wales on last day of Jubilee celebrations
"The poor thing had been stunned and was knocked out lying on the grass. It just fell.
"I had gone out because I heard a funny noise banging on the patio and realised there was a hail storm. Suddenly I saw this bat spiralling down - I realised it had been hit by a hail stone and knocked out."
Not wanting to harm or frighten the animal John watched it for a moment from a distance to check it was alive and took a quick photo before going inside to get a box to rescue it.
"I went to get a box but as soon as I went to scoop the bat up it woke up and flew off. It seemed OK. I think it was just stunned and needed to wake up."
Living on the outskirts of Newport in the countryside John often sees the bats which live in the trees in his garden. He said: "I do like bats. You see them a lot outside at dusk in the summer. They like the warm hot evenings. We weren't expecting hail in June."
The WalesOnline photographer said he doesn't know what type of bats they are in his garden but he'll be looking out for them from now on. According to the Bat Conservation Trust 17 species of bats are known to breed in the UK. The common pipistrelle is the most common of all and is found throughout the UK including all areas of Gwent.
Residents of Trawsfynydd were also hit by a sudden hailstorm on June 4. Although hail is unusual in June it is not unheard of. This weekend's unseasonal bad weather was caused by an unstable atmosphere and converging surface winds, according to the Met Office.
A Met Office forecaster said hail often accompanies thunderstorms and are not uncommon in summer even in Wales, although they tend to be very localised.
"It's not that unusual to see hail at this time of year. Generally we see hail more in spring than late summer as there is still slightly colder air currents. Hail is linked the thunderstorms as they come from the same clouds - Cumulonimbus clouds."
She was surprised hail had knocked a bat out of the air but said this could have been caused by hail stones clustering together and falling with force.
How does hail form?
According to the Met Office website hail forms in thundercloud when drops of water are continuously taken up and down though the cloud by updraughts and downdraughts. When they go to the top of the cloud, it is very cold and they freeze. As the updraughts in thunderclouds are very big, they can keep these hailstones for a long time, so they get larger and larger by becoming coated with more and more ice.
When the hailstones get really big, the updraughts in the cloud cannot hold them up anymore and they fall to earth, and by this time they are big balls of ice, and don't have time to melt before they reach the ground. Hail can only be formed in this way, in these type of convective clouds, unlike snow which can also be formed in weather fronts, and by ascending up hills and mountains, just like rain can.
Weather forecast for the rest of the day and next week
A Met Office thunderstorm warning has been issued for large parts Wales has been issued for Sunday as thousands of people are making plans for the last day of Jubilee celebrations and football fans are preparing to watch Wales' crunch match against Ukraine. The yellow warning started at midnight and is place through to 6pm Sunday afternoon
The latest Met Office forecast said heavy outbreaks of rain will continue this evening, but will gradually clear eastwards overnight with minimum temperatures of 7 °C.
Monday is expected to be a much drier day, after a cloudy start with a little rain in places, it will become brighter with a few sunny spells and isolated showers possible through the afternoon. Maximum temperature 19 °C.
Tuesday will be cloudy Tuesday with some sunny spells and showers before a band of rain moves east on Wednesday. Later in the week it is expected to be drier with some sunshine on Thursday.
