Fears for wildlife in drought-hit regions

Some parts of the country have experienced the driest 18 months on record and rivers such as the River Pang, home to Wind In The Willows’ Ratty, have already dried up in places.

The Environment Agency is warning that, in drought-affected areas, it was likely some streams, ponds and shallow lakes would dry up before aquatic insects such as dragonflies have taken wing, which will cause them to perish.

Newly hatched tadpoles of frogs, toads and newts face the same fate, while wading birds such as snipe, curlew and lapwings will suffer from a lack of moist soils in which to find food such as worms for themselves and their young.

The Environment Agency warned that the species have declined in much of England in recent years and the drought could sound the death knell in some smaller breeding sites.

Water voles will be at greater risk from predators such as stoats and weasels as falling water levels in ditches and streams leave their water-line burrows exposed.

And forest fires will be of increasing concern in the English countryside, the agency said, while some trees including beech and birch could die off in the face of the drought.

In its latest briefing on the drought situation last week, the Environment Agency said that after the previous week’s “welcome” rain, the past week had been the driest for England and Wales for around six months.

No more than a few millimetres of rain fell across the country, with the South East region receiving the most rain in the week – just 4mm (less than 0.2 inches).

In a bid to help wildlife, the Environment Agency is stepping up monitoring of rivers and increasing supplies of water aeration and fish rescue equipment to try and prevent fish deaths.

The agency is also bringing in measures to help managers of important wildlife sites to maintain water levels on-site by abstracting more water from nearby rivers.