Hundreds of farm animals spend the summer grazing on Halvergate Marshes, alongside the A47 between Acle and Great Yarmouth.

But this year's drought has reduced the freshwater levels in the drainage dykes and caused major problems for graziers.

Steven Howell, whose family keeps up to 350 cattle on the marshes, says the low water levels have stopped the dykes functioning as a natural barrier, allowing the animals to wade through and escape their grazing fields - including wandering onto the busy Acle Straight road.

Farmer Steven Howell at one of the dykes in Halvergate Marshes, between Acle and Great Yarmouth, where low water levels this summer have allowed his cattle to wade through and escape their grazing fields (Image: Denise Bradley)

But there is also a problem with saltwater seeping into the system as freshwater levels dropped - compounded by a breach in the tidal River Yare which he says took three weeks to repair.

As a result, Mr Howell said he has been forced to start moving some of his animals into winter housing a month earlier than usual, while other neighbouring farmers suffered cattle losses as a result of the "potent" salinity.

He criticised the speed of the response by the Broads Internal Drainage Board (IDB) and the "minimal" maintenance of drainage dykes, and called for a proactive plan to maintain fresh water in the grazing marshes amid increasingly hot and dry summers.

IDB managers said even their contingency measures to store and move water were hit by this year's unprecedented heat and drought - and they are exploring what works are necessary during the winter to improve the water levels during increasingly arid summers in........

© Eastern Daily Press