How to help wildlife in a summer heatwave

Are you wilting - and wondering if this is just something we need to get used to? Spare a thought for our poor wildlife. Scorched plants make poor food for insects, warmer water upsets amphibian lifecycles, rock hard earth deprives mammals of means of hydration, things grow at the wrong time leaving creatures unprepared for winter...

There are things you can do to get the wildlife on your doorstep through the next days and weeks. Here are four tips from the Woodland Trust:

Provide water: Leave out water for mammals in a shallow bowl. Ground-dwelling birds like blackbirds may also use it.

Leave an area of your garden to grow wild: This will provide much-needed shade for wildlife of all shapes and sizes.

Put down moist foods for birds and badgers: You could include soaked sultanas and currants. Or try wet cat food for hedgehogs (no mealworms!).

Top up your pond: This helps amphibians struggling to find a damp, sheltered spot and means they have somewhere to soak.

These actions are quick and easy and will provide immediate relief. But what of the long term? Yes, there have always been heatwaves, but climate scientists are clear that climate change is making heatwaves more frequent and more intense. So for wildlife whose habitats are already under intense pressure, this makes things so much harder.

If we want to protect our precious natural environment, we can't not use our influence as consumers and voters to effect big change by getting behind initiatives that tackle one of its most significant threats: climate change.

In the meantime, put some water out for wildlife - and they'll thank you for it.