For the second year in a row British wildlife, including Marsh Fritillary butterflies, puffins and lesser horseshoe bats, has suffered at the hands of the weather, according to experts at the National Trust.
Matthew Oates, National Trust Nature Conservation Advisor, said:
'A cold late spring, a wet summer, with few sunny days, and the long dry autumn has shown how dependent our wildlife is on the weather. Many iconic species closely associated with the four seasons are having to cope with higher incidents of poor weather as our climate becomes more unpredictable.'
© Peter Eeles
There have been far more wildlife losers than winners as a result of two poor summers in a row. Insects have been hit particularly hard by the increasing number of adverse weather events as a result of climate change.
Bad weather conditions have led to a poor breeding season for birds, particularly the tit family and coastal birds. The wet weather has also affected small plants and invertebrates as they’ve been squeezed out by dense grass growth.
Matthew Oates continued:
'After two very poor years in a row we desperately need a good summer in 2009 otherwise its going to look increasingly grim for a wealth of wildlife in the UK. Climate change is not some future prediction of what might happen, it’s happening now and having a serious impact on our countryside every year.'
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January
- Red Admiral butterflies continue to be the first butterfly sightings of the year.
- Snowdrops and crocuses were coming out earlier than normal.
February
- This February was the sunniest since 1929 and White-tailed bumblebees (Bombus terrestris) were flying on many days, and even at times during January.
March
- Easter fell early and in England this coincided with the worst of the cold weather.
- The Large Tortoiseshell butterfly, which was thought to be extinct in the UK, has bred successfully on National Trust land in south Devon, with other sightings recorded along the south coast of England.
April
- A cold and wet month with some frost and snow hit bees hard.
- In mid-April the first chough eggs were laid in south Wales, though a week later than usual.
May
- Heavy rain occurred during late May, a critical time for early summer insects, such as the Marsh Fritillary butterfly which suffered a second consecutive bad flight season.
- Many nests failed (including those of the Blue and Great tits), due to the lack of insect food and foul and abusive weather.
June
- Coastal cliff nesting birds, such as choughs, kittiwakes and razorbills, bred late and reared few young.
- It was a poor summer for migrant insects – butterflies, moths, hoverflies, ladybirds and dragonflies – due to the wet and cold weather.
July
- A good year for the Purple Emperor butterfly until this large canopy-living butterfly was hit by a vicious gale in early July.
- Nightjars only managed to raise one youngster instead of two.
- Puffin numbers on the Farne Islands were down by 35 per cent in five years.
August
- This was another year with an absence of the enemy of the English picnic, the wasp, due to the poor weather hindering nest development.
- The two Cabbage White butterflies, the Large White and Small White, were unusually plentiful as their predators were depleted by poor weather.
- Crickets and grasshoppers were in low numbers, and scarcely sang all month. Bats saw their staple food, insects, seriously affected by the heavy summer rain.
September
- There was a remarkable and perhaps unprecedented scarcity of the common autumn cranefly (Tipula paludosa). This insect is usually found in pest proportions but was all but absent this year.
- Small Tortoiseshell butterflies were scarce all summer in southern England, though their numbers picked up a little this month.
October
- Snow settled in London for the first October since 1934. A cold and wet month, after another poor summer, sealed the fate of our bees.
- It was another classic year for autumn colour with the leaves turning perfectly at many National Trust sites.
- A fantastic season for fungi. 26 stunning species of waxcap fungi , including the very rare olive earth tongue, were found at Tyntesfield in Somerset.
November
- A surprising number of spring flowers, such as Vibernum and Aubretia, bloomed in gardens. Roses and other perennials flowered at Knightshayes Court in Devon, confused by the cold summer and warm autumn.
- There has been a wealth of berries on mistletoe this year, lovely for Christmas.
- An otter made it to the Farne Islands in the North Sea for the first time on record despite the storms and gales.
December
- Radio tracking of lesser horseshoe bats did not take place in North Wales, due to many being underweight as a result of low insect numbers. This might have a detrimental effect on winter survival rates for all bat species.
If you're a wildlife lover, you can find out what plants and animals to look out for at any time of year with our monthly wildlife calendar.
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