MONTHS of dry weather in Herefordshire has led to rivers drying up and fish needing to be saved.

A localised shortage of rainfall in the county between April and September has resulted in sections of local rivers becoming separated into pools and environment teams having to save fish due to falling water levels.

Nevil Quinn, University of the West of England, Bristol said: "The Wye is not a chalk stream and the geology in this area does not allow water to penetrate easily and be stored as groundwater.

"Instead, when it rains heavily in the Wye catchment, most of the water runs off, leaving the catchment. Without this groundwater supply, the Wye is vulnerable, even when the dry weather lasts only six months.

"Our river plants and animals are used to summer periods with naturally lower river flows, but they are not adapted to extended periods of low rainfall. Unlike countries where rivers dry up seasonally, our river wildlife have not evolved ways of surviving these harsh conditions.

"So, if you are a fish in the Wye catchment, recent dry weather spells bad news. In fact so bad, that in some areas flow was so low that the river had separated into pools."

Last month the Environment Agency rescued fish stranded in diminishing pools of water in the River Dore near Peterchurch, Herefordshire.

A total of 47 trout, 24 lamprey and eight eels were rescued and moved to safety.

Recent rain has had little effect on water levels and fish rescues continue, with minnow recently removed from what remained of the Eign Brook in Hereford.

"These examples highlight the severe impacts to fish and other wildlife that can occur during periods of localised water scarcity," added Mr Quinn.

"Sustained dry weather can lead to complete loss of habitat as rivers break into pools that dry up. Important ecological functions such as salmon migration are also disrupted, as just one indicator of fragmentation of connected habitats upon which river life and natural processes depend.

"Climate change is likely to increase the frequency of these periods of low rainfall and what might seem a freak incident this year is likely to become a more regular occurrence in the next decades."

A major research programme on droughts funded by UK Research Councils is addressing these concerns.

The programme would like to hear from county residents about the way dry weather is affecting their river systems.

If you have stories like the ones above, and would like to contribute your views or would just like to stay in touch with developments in the research programme, please contact the co-ordinator of the environment work stream, Associate Professor Nevil Quinn (nevil.quinn@uwe.ac.uk).

Further information can be found via the programme’s ‘About Drought’ website (aboutdrought.info).