The driest start to a year in decades has shifted the source of this emblematic English river several miles downstream, leaving scorched earth and the occasional puddle where water once flowed
At the end of a dusty track in southwest England where the River Thames usually first emerges from the ground, there is currently scant sign of any moisture at all.The driest start to a year in decades has shifted the source of this emblematic English river several miles downstream, leaving scorched earth and the occasional puddle where water once flowed.It is a striking illustration of the parched conditions afflicting swathes of England, which have prompted a growing number of regional water restrictions and fears that an official drought will soon be declared. "We haven't found the Thames yet," confided Michael Sanders, 62, on holiday with his wife in the area known as the official source of the river. The couple were planning to walk some of the Thames Path that stretches along its entire winding course — once they can find the waterway's new starting point."It's completely dried up," the IT worker from northern England told AFP in the village of Ashton Keynes, a few miles from the source, noting it had been replaced by "the odd puddle, the odd muddy bit". "So hopefully downstream we'll find the Thames, but at the moment it's gone."The river begins from a underground spring in this picturesque region at the foot of the Cotswolds hills, not far from Wales, before meandering for 215 miles (350 kilometres) to the North Sea.Along the way it helps supply freshwater to millions of homes, including those in the British capital London.