"Give her a theme she'll dress up for it."

Mr Plant said "simple steps" would help maintain normal supplies, saying Scotland's climate as a whole is changing.The sustained dry weather is having an impact on agriculture across Scotland during the growing season.

Iain Brown, a farmer from the East Neuk of Fife, said he is already having to tap into extra water supplies which he wouldn't normally need until July.He said: "At this time of year we're busy establishing crops and unfortunately the crop is just too dry."We need to irrigate and get these crops growing otherwise we're not going to have the yield or quality that our customers require."

Like many farmers, he has a license that allows him to take water from a local burn for use on his farm, where he grows broccoli, strawberries and potatoes.He said farmers have always had to deal with challenges brought by the weather, but "the extremes of the weather are the new challenge".

"We are getting longer periods of wet weather and longer periods of dry weather and we've got to mitigate against those extremes," he added.

From January to April the country had only 59% of its long-term average rainfall, with May's figures on track to be even lower.A river campaigner is calling for a pause on planning permission for intensive chicken farms in Shropshire over concerns animal manure is contributing to water pollution.

A number of farms have been givenin recent years and four new sites

“We should be taking stock and finding out what the situation is, before we carry on giving them permission,” said Alison Caffyn, a volunteer for the Severn Rivers Trust.The National Farmers Union said it recognised there were challenges and farmers were “working hard” to prevent issues that contributed to water pollution.