A WARNING that the natural environment is starting to show signs of distress in Cumbria and Lancashire as this summer’s warm dry weather continues has been issued by the Environment Agency.

Although the region has seen some periods of rainfall in localised areas, over two very dry months, the EA says it has witnessed a rapid decline in reservoir levels across the North West, with significant impacts on the local environment.

These have ranged from widespread moorland fires on parched ground, to fish in distress due to low water levels and algal blooms affecting water quality.

The hot and dry weather is also bringing a range of challenges at waste sites, mainly amenity issues like dust, odour and flies but also increased fire risk.

Since the start of June 2018, the EA has received 79 incident reports across Cumbria and Lancashire as a result of the hot dry weather.

In particular there have been 15 'fish kill' incidents including on the River Ea at Cark-in-Cartmel and along a three kilometre stretch of the River Leven. And there has been a "significant" number of reports of blue-green algae and algal blooms, especially in Cumbria.

Jim Ratcliffe at the Environment Agency said: “The Environment Agency has stepped up its incident response to tackle the impacts of continued dry weather, following the driest June since 1925. In the North West we have seen a sharp increase in reports of environmental incidents with 25 per cent of July’s estimated reports received in just the first three days.

“The outlook for the next few weeks is much of the same hot dry weather, therefore it is important that if people notice any environmental impacts that they report it to the Environment Agency’s Incident Line on 0800 80 70 60. This is open 24/7, so we can take prompt action to investigate and take appropriate action."