From birds and butterflies to salmon and trout, England鈥檚 extreme dry conditions are taking their toll on wildlife. Drought status was declared for eight areas of the country on 12 August after the driest July since 1935, and looks set to last 鈥� on 9 August, the UK鈥檚 Centre for Ecology and Hydrology rivers will be 鈥渆xceptionally low鈥� until October in central, eastern and southern England.
While millions of people will be affected, other species are facing life-threatening impacts as river levels fall, peatlands dry out and soils turn brick-like. Drought orders mean water companies will be able to take more water than usual from rivers, further squeezing the health of natural environments.
Some species are adapted to natural cycles of drought, with roughly half of freshwater species able to cope with such conditions, says . However, England鈥檚 wildlife still faces numerous threats from a dry summer, a lack of cool water and fires that can more easily spread in parched conditions.
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鈥淓xtended heatwaves and drought are having a devastating impact on UK wildlife, reducing the availability of water and food, and exacerbating the impacts of pollution from farming and sewage,鈥� says .
The UK鈥檚 Environment Agency (EA) has rescued and relocated fish from the river Teme in Shropshire and the Tarrant in Dorset, as well as other rivers. . In some rivers where dissolved oxygen levels have become perilously low, the EA has deployed aeration equipment. The risk of further effects on fish stocks remains high, according to the EA.
at The Rivers Trust says the drying of the Thames source is emblematic of the wider situation. 鈥淲e are seeing rivers dry up,鈥� she says, as well as becoming warmer and more stagnant. Colvin is particularly concerned about chalk streams, such as the river Test and its tributary the Anton, which are fed from springs in chalk. One fear is that slower flows lead to mud silting up the rivers鈥� flint gravel beds, which are spawning grounds for salmon and trout.
Biggs says that a great crested newt monitoring network has found fewer wet ponds in surveys. In such years, newts tend to retreat from a wider network of ponds to a few core ones.
Low flows and high algal loads have been reported on rivers in the west. The Wye and Usk Foundation recently successfully requested water from authorities and farmers to cool the river Wye, to save salmon breeding there. In the south, the river Rib in Hertfordshire, another chalk stream, is reported to be running low. The Hertfordshire Wildlife Trust is concerned about the effect on species that rely on chalk streams, including wild brown trout and water voles.
To the east, the endangered Great Fen Raft-spider seems to be having a tough time. Conservationists report its breeding season in East Anglia has collapsed due to a lack of water in turf ponds. A number of fires have also taken place in Canvey Wick nature reserve on Canvey Island. Drought-stressed vegetation has stopped flowering, raising concerns over a once-widespread bee, the shrill carder bee, says .
In the north, Lancashire Wildlife Trust reports that its peatland-rich Cadishead and Little Woolden Moss site to the west of Manchester is 鈥渂one dry鈥�, with sphagnum moss covering the peat turning white instead of green in many places. As the trust notes, many birds and insects rely on the mosses for a source of water.
Fires that spread more easily in tinder-dry vegetation have been harming wildlife, too. Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust reports that a blaze at Toby Hills affected orchids, toads, newts and butterflies. An RSPB nature reserve, Fairburn Ings in West Yorkshire, was hit by a fire that destroyed about 16 hectares of woodland, primarily oak and birch, including areas created for willow tit, the second-fast declining bird in the UK.
The true impact of the conditions won鈥檛 be measured until various wildlife surveys are completed next year. 鈥淭he effects are likely to be significant in the first place, with reduced activity and abundance, but also with lots of shocks to habitat fragments and the specialist species hanging on there,鈥� says Shardlow.
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