Before-and-after images show effects of rain in drought-hit England and Wales

Clissold Park in north-east London in mid-September. Photograph: Jill Mead/The Guardian View image in fullscreen Clissold Park in north-east London in mid-September. Photograph: Jill Mead/The Guardian Before-and-after images show effects of rain in drought-hit England and Wales Much of the UK is still officially in drought after its hottest summer on record, but grasslands are slowly recovering their colour The landscapes of southern England and Wales are slowly regaining their colour after this summer’s extreme heat. The UK’s hottest summer on record left the south of the country dried out and brown, making the impact of the drought particularly visual. As autumn begins, large parts of the UK are still officially in drought. And even if autumn is wetter than normal, some could still be in drought in the spring, according to the Environment Agency. View image in fullscreen Clissold Park, in north-east London, at the end of July. Photograph: Richard Barnes/AlamyBut some rain has returned, and with it the green, to the relief of many. Darren Share, the director of the royal parks, which manages Hyde Park and St James Park among others, recalls: “The grass was completely scorched off across all of our park network, it was quite shocking. The grass level had almost turned to dust. “We’ve had heatwaves in the past but they’ve only been for short periods of time. The grass dies off, we get the rain again and then everything starts coming back quite quickly. This time it was just one [heatwave] after another.” View image in fullscreen People playing cricket at Perry Hall Park in Birmingham in mid-August, after the fifth heatwave of the summer. Photograph: /AlamyView image in fullscreen The cricket pitches at Perry Hall Park in mid-September. Photograph: Christopher Thomond/The GuardianThe extreme conditions not only changed the physical features of the parks, he said. “You could see that people were using the parks completely differently.” Visitor numbers decreased significantly during the day and many sporting and volunteering activities were cancelled because of health and safety concerns. The royal parks are not yet in full bloom again, but the difference between now and peak summer is stark. Share attributes the rapid regrowth to the resilience of grass. “I’m looking at the parks and seeing the grass come back to green. We’re very lucky that grass can tolerate that level of heat and will regenerate like we’re seeing now,” he said.