Merge pull request kubernetes-sigs#11054 from sbueringer/pr-v1.8.1-release-notes

🚀 Release v1.8.1

Author: k8s-ci-robot

CHANGELOG/v1.8.1.md

@@ -0,0 +1,38 @@
+## 👌 Kubernetes version support
+
+- Management Cluster: v1.27.x -> v1.31.x
+- Workload Cluster: v1.25.x -> v1.31.x
+
+[More information about version support can be found here](https://cluster-api.sigs.k8s.io/reference/versions.html)
+
+## Highlights
+
+* Support for Kubernetes v1.31
+
+## Changes since v1.8.0
+## :chart_with_upwards_trend: Overview
+- 3 new commits merged
+- 1 feature addition ✨
+- 1 bug fixed 🐛
+
+## :sparkles: New Features
+- Testing: Bump Kubernetes in tests to v1.31.0 and claim support for v1.31 (#11053)
+
+## :bug: Bug Fixes
+- Dependency: Update controller-runtime dependency to v0.18.5 (#11046)
+
+## :seedling: Others
+- clusterctl: Improve clusterctl client config logic & error message (#11052)
+
+## Dependencies
+
+### Added
+_Nothing has changed._
+
+### Changed
+- sigs.k8s.io/controller-runtime: v0.18.4 → v0.18.5
+
+### Removed
+_Nothing has changed._
+
+_Thanks to all our contributors!_ 😊