This summer is on course to be the UK’s hottest since records began, states the Met Office, with only average conditions needed for the remainder of August to surpass the record set just last year.
As the dry conditions harden the soil, animals such as earthworms, blackbirds, hedgehogs and moles are struggling to break through it to feed, YWT said.
Rachael Bice, YWT’s chief executive, said: “Increasingly frequent, disruptive and damaging heatwaves have severely impacted both the UK and the continent, impacting the lives of millions of people.
“However, they are also having a profound impact on all our wildlife, which is struggling to find places to escape the heat and sources of water and food. Our wildlife is having to travel further to look for water, encountering unfamiliar hazards, or struggling to find enough food to survive.”
Bice warned the hot weather would have an impact “far into the winter months”.
She said: “Fruiting trees and shrubs such as crab apple and blackberry are already ripe, or shedding poorly formed fruit, which will impact winter migrant birds that arrive looking for these important food stores.”