Thatchers hits harvest record due to heatwave

Martin Thatcher said they started the harvest 10 days earlier than planned

Cider producer Thatchers says it has started the earliest harvest in its 120-year history because of the long, hot summer.

Early data from the Met Office found the UK has "almost certainly" had its hottest summer on record with heatwave temperatures on four occasions.

Thatchers managing director Martin Thatcher said the weather prompted the producer to harvest thousands of apples 10 days ahead of schedule.

A university expert has warned that the current autumn-like scenes of trees shedding their leaves is being caused by heat stress.

"We're just about to start our bittersweet [apples] which is unusual because we wouldn't normally start that until September," said Mr Thatcher.

A warm spring led to good pollination at the company's orchards - meaning there were more apples but smaller in size.

"They are probably about two-thirds of the size we would normally expect in a year," added Mr Thatcher.

The family company said it is currently experimenting with many apples of different varieties to find those that will thrive in hotter, drier conditions for future years.

Eleanor Thatcher, a fifth-generation cidermaker, said: "We look at these varieties and we scale them up into 100-tree trials.

"It takes about seven to 10 years to really understand whether they will be suitable for not only cider making but also for a changing climate."

'Trees cannot adapt'

Meanwhile an expert has warned the current common site of carpets of leaves in parks and woodlands are a stress response by trees to this summer's heat.

Trees have been shedding their leaves prematurely to conserve water after months of drought in the UK.

Professor Mark Everard, a specialist in eco-system services at the University of the West of England (UWE) in Bristol, warned the shift could spell big problems for the natural world in the long term.

"We are changing the climate so rapidly, it's not recognisable to how it was in say, the 1950s, and the trees simply can't adapt that quickly," he said.