How drought is impacting wildlife in Wiltshire
Experts at Wiltshire Wildlife Trust say it's going to have a major affect on food chains
A wildlife charity in Wiltshire is warning drought conditions could devastate food chains and natural spaces.
Wiltshire is one of many areas declared as in drought by the Environment Agency, with Wiltshire Wildlife Trust telling us it's going to have a major impact on multiple species.
Freshwater Delivery Manager, Connor Stapleton-Goddard, said two-thirds of species rely on wetlands at some point in their lifetime, but those areas are taking longer to bounce back.
"Water is almost the base of a lot of the food chain," he said. "Without the water, you start to lose those food chains from the bottom up and then have some really big knock on effects. So things like bats are suffering, hedgehogs are suffering. So, as well as a lot of physical strain that high heat gives to mammals in particular, they're suffering from a lack of food resources as well, which requires a lot more energy to forage and survive."
With wetland areas being starved of frequent rainfall, they're struggling to recover and provide the same habitats for wildlife to reproduce, seeing reduced levels of invertebrates each year, which has a knock-on effect further up the food chain.
Connor said the weather fluctuating between extreme heat and extreme rainfall is not helping matters because the ground, particularly clay catchments, are being baked to the point where water just runs straight off.
"You might have a month's worth of rain, but you might have it in 48 hours, and all that rain is gone off the land, into the rivers, into the sea. So the frequency of the rainfall is making it really difficult for the habitats to bounce back, just because it's so dry and compact, it physically can't get absorbed into the soil," he said.
Connor told us that the sequence of heat waves is unprecedented and underlines the impact of climate change.
He says people should avoid watering lawns, as grass bounces back well, and advises using left over washing up water on vegetable pots and flower borders.