Town & Country
WILDLIFE endured quite the rollercoaster in 2018, says the National Trust, with temperature extremes ranging from –14˚C to 35˚C in some areas.
Last winter’s Beast from the East, now threatening to return, brought an icy blast to February and March, which led to the sad sight of thousands of lobsters, starfish and fish washed up on shores; birds that suffered included guillemots, shags, fulmars and kittiwakes.
Meanwhile, old-fashioned amounts of snow brought a handful of snowy owls and Arctic redpolls to our isle.
Spring was all too mild and summer longer and hotter than the famous one in 1976, which was good news for seal-pup numbers at Blakeney in Norfolk and the Farnes, plus the rare large blue butterfly (numbers of which reached a peak globally), purple emperor butterfly, silverstudded blue, migrant silver Y moth and dark green fritillary.
Wasps were also cheerful, but nettle-feeding butterflies such as the small tortoiseshell, red admiral and comma did not fare as well, nor did natterjack toads (their pools dried out).
It was a bumper year for fruit, particularly apples, brambles, damsons, pears, figs and sloes, but the box moth and oak processionary moth were able to spread their destruction further in the dry weather. Ash dieback increased, meadows became parched, revealing outlines of long-forgotten buildings (such as at Hardwick Hall in Derbyshire), and farmers struggled to find enough lush grass to feed their animals. The ground-nesting birds of Lancashire and Greater Manchester were disturbed by wildfires.
The year’s many wildlife abnormalities included swallows seen moving in May, a month late, swifts travelling north in June, bats still on the wing at the end of October and honeybees in December. Violets and primroses sprouted during autumn’s ‘second spring’ (see box for more). ‘The year’s unusual weather does give us some indication of how climate change could look and feel,’ says Dr David Bullock, head of species and habitat conservation at the National Trust. ‘It’s becoming less predictable every year. We need to ensure that we continue to look after the land in our care and create joined-up areas of the countryside—in effect, nature corridors —to enable wildlife to move around easily if needed, to survive any type of weather. This is something we are aiming to do more of with our ambition to create 25,000 hectares [62,000 acres] of new, high-quality habitat by repurposing 10%
of our land by 2025.’