Dozens of fish have died in a Tiptree pond due to a lack of oxygen in the water caused by the heat wave.

More than 50 carp were found dead in the pond in Church Road, which is owned by the parish council, yesterday (Wednesday) and about 100 more were swimming at the surface struggling to breathe.

The Environment Agency was alerted to the problem when one of their officers went to the site to check on the oxygen levels.

The test found that the oxygen level was down to 3 per cent, which is not high enough for fish to survive.

Firefighters were called to the site at about 3.10pm on Wednesday and used hoses to spray water up and around the pond to help put oxygen back in.