Fires across the Mediterranean

Firefighters across the Mediterranean this weekend are fighting wildfires which began days ago and have left eight dead.

The fires have destroyed thousands of acres of woodland in Spain, France, Greece and Sardinia, and are fuelled by high temperatures and strong winds.

Luckily, there haven't been any big fires recently in our region of Andalucia, but I took these pictures a few years ago, when 'fire-planes' spent a whole day taking water from the local lake. There was a huge fire in the Sierra Nevada mountains, where, like this weekend, thousands of acres of ancient woodland was lost, along with wildlife. There are warning signs on the motorways and roadsides, telling people of the 'high fire risk' conditions.

The temperatures here are still incredibly high, but the winds seem to be more gentle. Let's hope we'll see and end to the destruction that comes with fire by tonight.