This year’s drought will affect nature for ‘years to come’, experts warn
While rainfall in September has been “welcome”, officials said, it would take months of significant and sustained rainfall for the drought to end
The impacts of this summer’s drought on nature will last “for years to come”, as species from wading birds to fish and insects have struggled in the hot, dry conditions, experts said.
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While rainfall in September has been “welcome”, officials said, it would take months of significant and sustained rainfall for the drought to end, with the Midlands and the South still in drought and the North continuing to be in prolonged dry weather status.
And with wildfires hitting protected sites such as Holme Fen in Cambridgeshire, Tintwistle in Derbyshire, Dovestones in the Peak District, and Dunwich Heath in Suffolk, experts called for “nature-based solutions” such as restoring wetlands and peatlands to protect landscapes from extremes driven by climate change.
The warnings come following the latest meeting of the National Drought Group of ministers, officials, water companies, farming leaders, anglers and conservation experts, meeting regularly after an extremely dry summer and successive heatwaves in the hottest summer on record for the UK.
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Officials revealed there have been 349 environmental incidents such as fish deaths, algal blooms, water quality problems and low flows in 2026, outstripping the 321 recorded in 2025 – another spring and summer hit by drought.
Government agency Natural England said ponds, rivers, dykes and wetlands have dried to exceptionally low levels, and in some upland areas, wildlife-rich environments have dried out completely.
Breeding waders and specialist wetland invertebrates have struggled significantly and fish deaths have occurred when oxygen levels in the water have dropped.
Tony Grayling, strategic drought lead and National Drought Group chairman, said: “September’s rainfall has been welcome, so far, but we know it will take months of significant and sustained rainfall for the drought to end.
“Environmental impacts continue to increase.
“The short-term impacts of drought have been visible over the summer, but we know the effects on wildlife populations and ecosystems will last for years to come.
He added: “The speed of drought recovery depends both on rainfall and demand for water.
“Therefore, it is vital we all still use water wisely in the coming months to help our environment recover from the impacts of an exceptionally dry spring and summer.”
The UK is facing increasingly extreme weather such as heatwaves, droughts and intense rainfall because of climate change which is driven mostly by burning fossil fuels for power, heating and transport – a situation which will continue to worsen until climate warming emissions are cut to net zero.
There is also a need to adapt the country to the worsening extremes that are already locked in, with Natural England pointing to work such as restoring peatland in the Peak District and south Pennines and reintroducing beavers in some areas, to reduce floods and fires by holding more water in the landscape.
Oliver Harmar, chief strategy officer at Natural England, said: “If drought and wildfire risk are here to stay, then we must use nature-based solutions to adapt our landscapes to cope.
“Restoring the natural hydrology of our landscapes, particularly our wetlands and peatlands, helps them hold on to water for longer, recover more quickly from drought, and reduce the risk of fire taking hold in dried-out ground.
“It also has real benefits for the water that ends up in our taps and rivers, and for the wildlife that depends on these habitats to survive.”
Experts are also warning that the current, exceptionally strong, El Nino phenomenon in the Pacific, which temporarily pushes up temperatures on top of global warming and affects weather patterns worldwide, is set to put the UK at greater risk of a wet, stormy autumn.
For now, September has seen 56 per cent of its average monthly rainfall to date in England and river flows have decreased, although the majority of sites are classed as normal for the time year.
But reservoir storage is well below average for the time of year, and 10 water companies have imposed hosepipe bans impacting 30 million customers.