Officials have sent out health warnings as Britain continues to swelter in the country's first heatwave for seven years.

After five consecutive days basking in 30C-plus temperatures, forecasters said Britain was in the midst of its first prolonged heatwave since 2006.

The local forecast for Wirral shows no let up in the sunshine for the next seven days.

The Met Office has responded by issuing a "level three heat health watch" for London and the South East.

And it has advised "alertness and readiness" for those in the North West.

Level three warnings are only one notch below the most serious alerts and are put out when high temperatures place the very young, the very old and those with chronic diseases at risk.

Forecasters said that the record for the warmest day of the year could be broken again, with temperatures expected to creep up as high as 32C (89.7F) in parts of England on Wednesday.

Gemma Plumb, forecaster with MeteoGroup - the weather division of the Press Association - said: "There is no proper definition of 'heatwave' in the UK - but we are undoubtedly in the midst of one now.

"It is the longest period of hot weather since 2006, with prolonged temperatures above the average for the time of year.

"Normally we can expect it to reach 20-22C (68-71.6F) in England and Wales - today parts of the Midlands, East Anglia, the south coast and London could see 30C-plus."

And sunworshippers can expect to enjoy balmy Britain for a while yet.

Miss Plumb said: "At the moment it looks as though the warm weather is going to stay well into next week at least."

How have you been enjoying the sunshine? Send your summery pictures to leigh.marles@nqnw.co.uk