High pollen count means hay fever will continue for weeks, says the Met Office

High levels of pollen are expected across the Midlands and south of England, as well as in all of Wales and Northern Ireland until Friday, the weather service said.

The forecaster said the north east of England and Scotland will see low levels of pollen.

More people will begin to suffer from hay fever as the tree pollen season ends and transitions into the grass pollen season, the Met Office said.

Spokesman Grahame Madge told the PA news agency: "We are now getting into grass season.

"With it being so dry across the UK, it means grasses are able to shed pollen.

"For sufferers, hay fever has been a feature of the last few days and will continue to be a feature for sufferers over the next few days and weeks.

"(Sufferers will) only get a respite when the grass has shed all the available pollen or if we get significant rainfall, which will effectively wash the pollen out of the atmosphere."

Scott Cooke, pharmacist at Gordon's Chemist in Bushmills, admits sales of hay fever remedies have been on the increase as the warm weather shows no sign of letting up.

He said: "There has been certainly been a rise in sales of hay fever support.

"We are advising customers of their own triggers of the hay fever, whether that be pollen, dust, hair or other irritants.

"After that, we will then recommend a product for them to buy to help with their hay fever.

"To be honest, a lot of our customers are fully aware of their own triggers and we would warn members of the public of too much exposure to the sun without suncream during this time."

Doctor Milli Raizada, GP and senior clinical lecturer at Lancaster University, said students' exam performances may be affected, especially when they are doing tests.

She told PA: "Exam performance can be affected when pollen levels are highest in the summer months.

"People think it is such a minor condition but it can have an impact on people's work performance and sleep. I think there are lots of theories about why (hay fever) has been so bad.

"The prolonged cold weather and then the sudden explosion of warm weather has led to very high counts of pollen."