Hainault Lake

The Drought 1976 

The driest year ever recorded was 1976. It began in May 1975 with that summer being the hottest for 28 years resulting in water shortages. The following winter rainfall was well below average and by April 1976 the drought situation had become serious. The heat wave continued right through the summer, temperatures did not fall below 27C from 22nd June to 16th July. The grassland was parched, turning brown then white; the trees in the forest suffered greatly, causing premature leaf fall. The Birch trees Betula pendula, suffered particularly badly, with leaf fall by mid summer; many of the younger trees succumbed entirely. The water level in the lake fell dramatically, with the northern and eastern areas drying up completely, becoming hard and cracked. It then became possible to walk to the tree and ivy-covered island, perhaps for the first time since it was dug, nearly 70 years earlier! WWII bombs may have caused the three, 3m diameter concave depressions noticed on the island!