The disappearance of reliable seasonal patterns is causing chaos for the flora and fauna of the UK, a long-running annual audit of the impact of weather on nature has found.
Extreme weather events, from storms and pounding rain to searing heat and drought are putting huge pressure on animals, plants and the environment, the report from the National Trust says.
The conservation charity is urging politicians to prioritise “urgent action” to protect nature and people from future climate shocks and says parties should commit to making changes in their manifestos for the next UK general election.
Ben McCarthy, the head of nature and restoration ecology at the National Trust, said: “The shifting weather patterns we’re seeing, particularly the warmer temperatures, is continuing to upset the natural, regular rhythm of the seasons. This loss of predictability causes chaos for the behaviours of animals in particular, but can also impact trees and plants.”
The National Trust gave a long list of species that have suffered in the last 12 months, including oak trees, which are increasingly vulnerable to the oak processionary moth, whose caterpillars infest them. The lack of prolonged cold snaps in recent years means the moths have spread northwards from their traditional home in the Mediterranean.
Another troublemaker doing well is the heather beetle, which is killing off swathes of the heathland plant in some areas. A drone survey of Dunwich Heath in Suffolk revealed a 60% loss in heather.
The warmer winters means hibernators such as dormice are emerging from their torpor too early and using up vital energy stores. It is also leading to red deer rutting later, meaning calves are born in the summer rather than the spring, with insufficient time to grow and put on fat reserves to survive.
According to the trust, some of the rare lichens and liverworts that grow in the temperate rainforest at Lydford Gorge, on the edge of Dartmoor in Devon perished because of the lack of water last winter.
But then water voles were driven from flooded burrows when the torrential rains have come in, putting them at increased risk of cold, hunger and predation.
McCarthy, said: “These baseline changes that we’re seeing are really worrying and what we should be taking more notice of, particularly when combined with extreme weather events, which makes things even more challenging.
The autumn storms, Babet and Ciaran, caused havoc, knocking down trees including a 260-year old Cedar of Lebanon at Charlecote Park in Warwickshire and eroding river banks and beaches.
One of the consequences of the storm just coming to light is the possible impact on the population of the shags, the seabirds that look similar to cormorants that live and breed on the Farne Islands in Northumberland. There are hardly any birds in the winter roosts on the islands, with a number of dead birds being washed up on the islands. It is thought Babet disrupted their ability to feed and led to starvation.
There were scraps of bright news. Record-breaking numbers – at least for recent years – of choughs were spotted in Cornwall with a 60% increase in the number of chicks on 2022. The elegant crow is a symbol of Cornwall but became extinct and is back on the rise.
At Formby in Merseyside, rangers recorded the first emergence of natterjack toadlets since 2020 in May with approximately 150 counted across the site.
The rare black oil beetle was spotted at Kinver Edge in Staffordshire for the first time in nine years. The sandy soil there suits burrowing insects such as solitary bees, whose nests and eggs the oil beetle feeds on.
Persistent rain in July and the warm, wet conditions that continued into the autumn were ideal for waxcap grassland fungi. One, the dark velvet fanvault was found at Hardcastle Crags in West Yorkshire, the first record of it in the UK.
Butterflies and moths on the whole seem to have had a better year than expected, considering last year’s drought. Staff noted record-breaking numbers of the Heath fritillary butterfly on the Holnicote Estate on Exmoor in Somerset.
But the charity’s audit, which it has been carrying out for 15 years, makes gloomy reading overall.
“We need to see more action from politicians, particularly as we enter this election year, to ensure tackling the nature and climate crisis is a top priority,” said McCarthy.
“We want to see parties commit to accelerating progress on nature restoration, increase support for nature-based solutions to climate change and to put climate adaptation at the heart of their manifestos, so the UK can be better prepared for the weather extremes we will increasingly experience.”
