Birds fly north as climate changes

Bird species are moving northwards in response to rising temperatures and resultant changes to their habitat, according to a new report.

The latest State of the UK’S Birds study highlights the effect of climate change. Since the Eighties, average summer temperatures have increased by nearly 1C, altering species’ numbers, distribution and behaviour.

Projections of how such changes will continue suggest many rarer breeding birds mainly found in the North are likely to disappear from Britain. Species, such as the dotterel, whimbrel, common scoter, and Slavonian grebe, have already declined considerably.

However, the change in climate could be positive for other birds. Some with southerly distributions such as quail, little egret and hobby, have shown substantial increases in the UK in recent years.