Shocking pictures have revealed the devastating impact that the retreating River Misbourne has had on local wildlife.

Shared on social media, the images show scores of dead and dying fish and shrimp in the river at Old Amersham.

As a result of recent dry weather, over 1km of the river has dried up.

In response to the original tweet, many local residents have expressed their concerns at the current state of the river – calling on more to be done to prevent a recurrence of the issue.

One tweet read: “I'm fed up of seeing this. Why the hell is nothing being done. Where are the hosepipe bans and foresight to stop more of this devastation.

“It's not only aquatic life that suffers birds and mammals rely on water for survival too. What's going on down there?”

Another concerned response said: “This is just awful. No more talking shops, we need action. All those worried about the dire straits of UK chalk streams empathise.

Chiltern Chalk Streams, the account who originally posted the images, called on water companies to store more summer rainfall in order to reduce abstraction significantly and reduce the environmental impact of drought.

A spokesperson from the Environment Agency said: "We had a member of staff visit sections of the Misbourne yesterday afternoon and we’re planning on attempting to relocate fish from the pools of water that remain in sections of the river on Thursday.

"We know the individual who posted the tweet and will be in touch with them directly to discuss this operation."