upland

Ian Christie, managing director of water, asset planning and capital delivery at the firm said it was "implementing measures to preserve upland reservoir supplies where we can" while trying to cut leaks from pipes.

The National Trust said it believed ongoing wildfires at Abergwesyn common in Powys had destroyed "the last remaining" local breeding habitat for golden plovers - considered one of the most beautiful birds of the British uplands.

In the Mournes, Mr Fisher said rove beetles and other insects "support the skylarks and the meadow pipits that come from the lowlands to nest up in the uplands during this time of year".

His hardy upland flock of Scotch Blackface and Welsh mountain sheep spend nine-and-a-half months of the year on the moor, where they are most vulnerable to theft.

It is a place of farms, crofts, forests and rugged hills, vast upland moors and mountains but few people.