Earlier spring ‘is leaving our wildlife out of sync’
CLIMATE change is shifting spring forward in Britain, with birds nesting and insects flying earlier than they used to, a study of the past 50 years has confirmed.
It says butterflies, moths and aphids are now flying and birds are laying eggs much earlier than in the mid-20th century.
The researchers warned that variations in how different groups of animals were changing their behaviour means wildlife could get ‘out of sync’ with the life cycles of other species they rely on for food.
It also suggests wildlife will not be protected in habitats such as woodlands, which it had been thought might provide more stable conditions that could help counter rising temperatures. The shift towards an earlier spring is happening in shady forests as well as open areas, the study into the seasonal habits of more than 250 UK species found.
Lead author Dr James Bell, head of the Rothamsted Insect Survey, said: ‘It shows us that we cannot rely on habitat to slow down climate change impacts.’
The research, published in the journal Global Change Biology, reveals that the responses by species to climate change are not straightforward. For example, moths which turn from caterpillars to adults on the wing earlier in the year seem more responsive to climate change than those which change later.
In the north of the UK, butterflies become active earlier in the warmer wetter west than the colder drier east, but the opposite is true for birds laying eggs.