Shetland 'sunniest place' in UK

Lerwick has seen three times as much sunshine as some other towns

One of the most northerly places in Britain has been the sunniest in the UK this month.

Lerwick, in the Shetland islands, basked in 136 hours of sunshine in the first 25 days of August.

It had far better weather than the second sunniest place in the UK, Wittering in Cambridgeshire, which has had 107 hours of sun so far.

Much of the rest of the country did not even reach 100 hours of sun, forecasters from Meteogroup said.

John Hutchinson, a Meteogroup forecaster, said Shetland had been lucky to escape the bad weather which had hit the rest of the UK.

'Gloom and rain'

He said: "Normally the low pressure moves to the north of Scotland but the lows have been further south than normal so the worst of the weather has been across central areas of the UK.

"Lerwick has been above all the bad weather so it has had sunny spells.

"Shetland really has been fizzing above the gloom and rain that has been affecting everywhere else."

Lerwick is the only place in the UK which has seen more sun than average so far this month.

Eskdalemuir in Dumfries and Galloway has yet to reach 40 hours of sun, while many places have yet to see half their average August sunshine.