It has been an exceptional summer with the UK seeing its driest start to the season in 57 years.

A ‘green and pleasant land’, is now brown and dusty, despite rain over the past few days.

Across Europe, the heat has been punctuated by extreme thunderstorm activity, currently residing across northern parts of Italy.

The hot, dry weather has also hit Scandinavia with temperatures reaching as high as 33 degrees Celsius inside the Arctic Circle.

The drought across Norway, Sweden and Finland has brought scores of wildfires. In Sweden, there are serious shortages of grazing for cattle.