Running dry: drought-hit UK sporting venues and parched pitches – in pictures

Running dry: drought-hit UK sporting venues and parched pitches – in pictures

With the UK experiencing the driest summer on record, we look at how the weather is affecting the pitches and courses across the country

A drone view of Hackney Marshes in east London as teams play cricket on the parched grassland. Photograph: Toby Melville/Reuters

An aerial view taken with a drone shows a drought-damaged football pitch in Cockfosters, north London.Photograph: Neil Hall/EPAShare

Runners take part in a 5km parkrun across Clapham Common, London.Photograph: Maja Smiejkowska/PAShare

The damage to the pitch is visible at Radnage Recreation Ground, home of Radnage Raiders FC in Buckinghamshire.Photograph: Jonathan Brady/PAShare

Ground staff prepare a cricket wicket in Overton, Hampshire. Photograph: Andrew Matthews/PAShare

The view from the air above Weybrook Park Golf Club in Basingstoke, Hampshire. The manmade lake in the centre of the image is now completely dry.Photograph: Andrew Matthews/PAShare

Vibrant grass on the green surrounded by parched fairway and rough at Bridport & West Dorset Golf Club.Photograph: Finnbarr Webster/Getty ImagesShare

Aerial view of the King Power Polo pitch in Holyport, near Maidenhead in Berkshire. Photograph: Jonathan Brady/PAShare

A drone view shows a person cycling towards an artificial cricket pitch on parched parkland in south-west London.Photograph: Toby Melville/ReutersShare

The artificial surface hockey pitch at Marlow Hockey Club in Buckinghamshire constrasts starkly with the desiccated cricket pitches of neighbouring Marlow Cricket Club.Photograph: Jonathan Brady/PAShare

Golfers line up putts at the North Wales Golf Club in Llandudno as a drought continues across the whole of Wales.Photograph: Carl Recine/Getty ImagesShare

The green square and the surrounding parched, dry and yellow grass on the cricket field of Maidenhead & Bray Cricket Club during a game in Bray, Berkshire.Photograph: Justin Tallis/AFP/Getty ImagesShare

A drone image of a dry football pitch and neighbouring cricket pitch in Llay, near Wrexham in north Wales. Photograph: Adam Vaughan/EPAShare

The lush green grass of the racetrack at Goodwood in West Sussex before July’s festival, in stark contrast to the brown fields of the South Downs surrounding it.Photograph: Chris Gorman/Big LadderShare

A drone view of Hackney Marshes in east London as teams play cricket on the parched grassland.Photograph: Toby Melville/ReutersShare

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