In Pictures: Scorching day for Britons as heatwave intensifies

PA Wire

Scorching conditions continue to blight the landscape, with leisure activities impacted by the hot temperatures – while elsewhere emergency measures were taken to protect river life.

Sunrise brought with it the first of four forecast days of amber alert conditions, with reservoirs across the UK already severely depleted and some rivers dwindling in size.

Conditions for football were hardly ideal with a dusty, almost lunar landscape replacing the usual verdant conditions for players at London’s Hackney Marshes.

The sun rises over Berwick Pond in Rainham, Essex (Ian West/PA) (PA Wire)

Water levels at the United Utilities, Woodhead Reservoir, in Derbyshire are low (Dave Higgens/PA) (PA Wire)

Footballers faced bone dry pitches at Hackney Marshes (Victoria Jones/PA) (PA Wire)

Long studs would not have been needed for anyone playing at Hackney Marshes (Victoria Jones/PA) (PA Wire)

The conditions present a clear and present danger to some wildlife, and moves were afoot to protect those species threatened by the dried-up river habitats.

At the River Mole in Dorking, measures were taken to remove creatures from increasingly sparse pools.

Crayfish and pike were among the wildlife moved to areas less parched of water.

Fisheries officers from the Environment Agency remove equipment used to rescue fish from a drying pool of the River Mole (Jonathan Brady/PA) (PA Wire)

A signal crayfish was rescued from a drying pool of the River Mole (Jonathan Brady/PA) (PA Wire)

A pike was also relocated from a drying pool of the River Mole (Jonathan Brady/PA) (PA Wire)

People enjoy an al fresco lunch in the grounds of Belfast City Hall (Rebecca Black/PA) (PA Wire)

Not everyone was deterred from having fun, with some acrobatics of a gymnastic kind laid on by a trampolinist at Parliament Square.

Others took to the water in the capital with the River Lea the perfect place for some aquatic unicorn antics for some children, while the canal at Paddington Basin was a big draw for people interested in zorbing.

People on the dead grass in Parliament Square Garden, Westminster (Stefan Rousseau/PA) (PA Wire)

Trampolinist Nicole Steiner from Switzerland practices some moves on a dried out Parliament Square (Stefan Rousseau/PA) (PA Wire)

Children playing in the River Lea, east London (Victoria Jones/PA) (PA Wire)

People enjoy the hot weather as they zorb on the canal at Paddington Basin in London (Joe Sene/PA) (PA Wire)