According to Flood Radar, just 0.2 mm of rain fell at a monitoring station near the sewage works in south Abingdon during July 2026. The July average is around 37 mm. By contrast, June rainfall at this monitoring station was above average.
In southern England, July has been reported as the driest on record. To help conserve water supplies, there is a temporary hosepipe ban, but there are a number of exemptions.
You may still see sprinklers operating on cricket pitches or other sports grounds. Watering is permitted where it is necessary to maintain a safe playing surface, but not the entire ground.
Other exemptions include:
* Food crops where watering with a hosepipe is essential.
* Commercial horticulture and plants grown for sale.
* Animal welfare, including ponds containing fish.
* People with certain disabilities or medical conditions who qualify for exemptions.
* Newly planted street trees (planted within the last three years where hand watering is not practical).
Some newly planted street trees have been provided with watering bags and labels asking people to become Tree Guardians by helping to keep them watered. This tree appears to have been badly affected by the prolonged dry weather. If its roots are still alive, regular watering over the coming weeks could still give it a chance of recovery.
I was really pleased when trees were planted along our street. A lot of effort went into acquiring them and planting them well with excellent supports and protection. Why hasn’t a proper programme of watering been included in this scheme? The survival rate will be dismal and most of the money spent will have been wasted. Some of the trees here will survive but only because householders are looking after them, many won’t. Fewer trees, better supported would have been much better value for money.
I have been trying to water 4 near us under stress – 2 of which have lost their leaves.
It’s all very well them putting signs on the trees saying “please water me” but some of these trees are planted in areas where there are elderly and disabled people, who might not be able to get out with a watering can. Other people just don’t have any idea about green growing stuff, or care about it – when they should, but who can make them care?
Pot grown trees don’t have the deep root systems wild grown trees do, and so they need at least 3 years of help with additional water to get going – and especially so in these hot dry summers – which are only going to get hotter and dryer.