Relentless UK heatwaves turn ‘green and pleasant land’ brown

Stonehenge in Wiltshire is one of many green, grassy landscapes dried out . Photograph: Toby Melville/Reuters View image in fullscreen Stonehenge in Wiltshire is one of many green, grassy landscapes dried out . Photograph: Toby Melville/Reuters Relentless UK heatwaves turn ‘green and pleasant land’ brown Visible impact of warming climate is impossible to ignore across landscapes that have been starved of rainfall Half of England and the whole of Wales are officially in drought and July is set to be the driest month on record as extreme heat intensified . The announcements this week by England’s Environment Agency and Natural Resources Wales mark the third such event over the past five years, and come in the wake of four record-breaking heatwaves since May which have fuelled huge wildfires and left farmers, wildlife and protected habitats running out of water. View image in fullscreen A two-arched stone bridge thought to date to 1800 at the Llwyn-onn reservoir in the Taf Fawr valley in Merthyr Tydfil, Wales was exposed . Photograph: Matthew Horwood/Getty ImagesEngland had just 7% of the long-term average rainfall for July and southern England just 1%, damaging greenery in parks, protected land and sports fields. The dry spell has also led to shrinking rivers and lakes: the Thames at Reading has recorded its lowest ever level. Water companies are not currently expecting a threat to drinking water supplies, as record winter rainfall means reservoirs are still close to expected levels, but approximately 23 million people across England and Wales are under a hosepipe ban. The visible impact is impossible to ignore: vast swathes of William Blake’s “green and pleasant land” are now brown and dry. The Met Office predicts that the climate crisis will make UK summers 1C-6C (1.8F-10.8F) hotter and up to 60% drier by 2070, compared with 1990. View image in fullscreen The Cerne Abbas giant in Dorset. Left image taken in August 2023, right taken August 2026. Composite: Finnbarr Webster/Getty ImagesBoth adaptation to and mitigation of the effects of a warming planet are urgently needed, said Dr Chloe Brimicombe, a climate scientist at the University of Oxford. “This summer has been a compounding of dry weather,” said Brimicombe, “leading to droughts and hot weather and high temperatures leading to heatwaves with these conditions also leading to wildfires. It is a strong indication that we need better long-term planning. Climate change is not a future problem; it’s a challenge for right now.” As the climate crisis supercharges “whiplash” wet-then-dry weather, the UK and Europe are seeing back-to-back heatwaves that encourage vegetation to grow but then dry it out, producing ideal fuel for fires.