More fish rescued as parts of Redlake dry out

The fish are taken from the dry sections of the river and moved downstream

More fish have been rescued from rivers after sections ran dry in hot weather.

The Environment Agency (EA) said it saved more than 60 trout in the Redlake, near Leintwardine, Herefordshire, and moved them downstream.

It follows salmon and trout rescues in dry parts of the Teme in the county.

The EA's Dave Throup says he expects more rescues as water levels continue to drop in the coming days.

"Parts of these rivers, the Redlake and Teme, in that part of the world dry up fairly regularly," he said.

"We used to think it happened [one] year in six, but now it is happening almost annually."

More than 60 brown trout were moved by the Environment Agency

When river levels drop, fish collect in small pools which can get hot and lose oxygen, causing the fish to die.

EA workers put a low current through the water which stuns the fish, so they can be caught and carefully transported elsewhere.

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Mr Throup said the rescues came three months after the highest ever water levels were recorded on the upper Teme during the wettest February on record.

The Met Office has said May was the sunniest calendar month on record.

During dry periods the water disappears into deep gravels and begins to flow underground, Mr Throup says

"We are seeing more extreme events more regularly and that is exactly sort of thing we would expect to see from climate change," Mr Throup said.

"This sort of event is highly indicative of a changing climate and a warming world."