'Chaos' for UK nature, as extreme weather becomes the 'new norm'

Rising average temperatures, changing seasons and increasingly unpredictable weather is causing “chaos” for UK nature, the National Trust has found.

The charity’s annual report paints a bleak picture as climate change alters seasons, impacting both wildlife and trees and plants.

Temperature-wise, it’s estimated that 2023 will be the hottest year on record – and probably in the last 120,000 years – with the Met Office forecasting 2024 to be hotter still.

The UK has already warmed by more than 1C above the pre-industrial average, leading to winters shortening and summers lengthening.

This year, the UK recorded its hottest June, with extreme heat and drought becoming more common.

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The river Derwent in the Lake District – traditionally one of England’s wettest areas – dried out for the third consecutive summer.

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From one extreme to the other, intense storms in the autumn cause widespread flooding.

An area in Dorset saw 15 years of erosion in one day, as high winds and waves battered southern England’s shoreline.

Ben McCarthy, head of nature and restoration ecology at the National Trust, says the shifting weather patterns – particularly the rise in temperatures – is “upsetting the natural, regular rhythm of the seasons” and “causing stress to wildlife and making it more susceptible to pests and disease”.

He goes on: “This loss of predictability causes chaos for the annual behaviours of animals in particular but can also impact trees and plants.”

Animals are suffering, with hibernators like dormice waking up earlier, meaning they use more energy than they would normally, and red deer rutting later in the year, resulting in calves being born in the summer instead of spring – so they lose time to grow and put on fat for the winter.

He says such baseline changes are “really worrying” and we should be taking more notice.

The report also noted that some shrubs have been budding early, exposing them to cold snaps while depriving insects of nectar in the summer, and tree pests such as the oak processionary moth are spreading north from their traditional home in the Mediterranean.

East Anglia and Cornwall spent over a year in drought conditions after the extreme heat of 2022.

Keith Jones, national climate change consultant at the National Trust, warned that such extreme weather conditions are becoming “the new norm”.

He said: “When you consider the extreme temperatures and heatwaves that have devastated parts of Europe and other countries this year, we have been extremely fortunate.

“We were just 1,000 miles away from experiencing a second year of serious drought and record-breaking temperatures which would have had huge consequences for nature, people and food production.

“But we can’t allow ourselves to be lulled into any sense of false security.

“In the near future we are likely to experience a combination of drought and high temperatures as well as high rainfall and flood – and we need to get ready for this new norm.

“Water is going to be key – not having enough and also not too much.”

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