Air passengers could face further disruption as northerly winds bring volcanic ash back over Ireland and western Scotland.

A number of flights from the UK and Ireland were grounded yesterday as several Spanish airports closed.

They were expected to remain shut until the early hours of today as an ash cloud moved over Europe.

Ryanair said airspace over southern France could also be restricted.

London Stansted Airport saw the cancellation of 25 Ryanair services to destinations including the Canary Islands, Spain and Portugal, along with five easyJet flights.

At Gatwick, six easyJet services were grounded while another four Ryanair flights to Alicante, Madrid and Barcelona were cancelled.

Ryanair placed details of cancelled flights on its website, including services from East Midlands, Birmingham, Bristol, Leeds and Liverpool. It advised customers to check their flight status before travelling to the airport.

Another, higher level ash cloud is hanging over the Atlantic, causing westbound flights to re-route to avoid it.

A spokesman for Heathrow Airport said transatlantic services were suffering delays of ten to 15 minutes to allow time to fly around the ash cloud.

He said disruption to European services was minimal, with only a small number of flights going to La Coruna affected. The disruption could continue over the next few days if northerly winds bring ash over western Scotland and Ireland.

Renewed activity in the Eyjafjallajokull volcano sent ash up to heights of 20,000ft to 30,000ft last week, according to the Met Office.

Forecaster Victoria Kettley, from MeteoGroup, the weather division of the Press Association, said: "It looks as if Ireland and western Scotland could be affected. The wind is northerly rather than north-westerly so it will not bring the ash right across the UK."

On Wednesday, an area of low pressure over Iceland is expected to take the ash away from the UK and Ireland.