By COLIN FERNANDEZ From Daily Mail UK

• A mild start to the winter and a damp summer was the story of 2017’s weather
• This ‘blurring’ of the seasons was a mixed blessing for wildlife the charity said.
• The organisation said its plans to reverse declines in nature in the worst hit areas
• New measures needed to help habitats and wildlife cope with climate change
• National Trust urges people to join citizen science projects monitoring nature

Four seasons merged into just one in the past year – confusing birds, bees and plants, according to a report.

Mild start to winter and a damp summer was the story of 2017’s weather, according to a review of the year by the National Trust.

This ‘blurring’ of the seasons was a mixed blessing for wildlife, the charity said.

NATIONAL TRUST RECOMMENDATIONS  

Bumblebees appeared in January due to mild conditions, spring flowers bloomed early, storms and warm seas brought Portuguese man o’war and bluefin tuna to UK waters.

The charity said emperor butterflies were on the wing unusually early.

The organisation said its plans to reverse declines in nature – including creating 62,000 acres of wildlife areas on its land by 2025 – where more urgent than ever in the face of changes in the climate.

And with year-round ‘thuggish vegetation’ growth becoming a trend as a result of mild winters and damp summers, experts warn they will have to find new ways of managing special habitats to benefit the plants and animals that rely on them.

The National Trust’s annual review of the year showed a mild, dry start prompted many flowers to arrive early, including wild daffodils blooming in the Teign valley in February and elder and dog rose, usually June blooms, flowering in April.

Balmy weather in May led to a good nesting season for birds, with little terns doing well at Blakeney Point in Norfolk, and spring insects did well.

The elusive purple emperor butterfly, made its earliest appearance in 120 years, at Bookham Common, Surrey on June 11.

Then it was the ‘summer that nearly was’, nature expert Matthew Oates said, with clouds assembling just as the state schools broke up and leading to another in a string of wet Augusts – followed by a damp September.

Winged insects were hit, but it was a prolific year for fungi, including the rare powdercap stranger, which was found at Clumber Park, Nottinghamshire.

The fine spring spelled a good apple harvest and a bumper autumn for nuts and seeds, attracting a remarkable influx of elusive hawfinches from the continent with flocks of up to 50 reported.

Mr Oates said the year ‘was a bit all over the place yet again, there’s this issue of the blurring of the seasons, particularly through mild winters and damp summers’.

Although this spring did not see strong vegetation growth, allowing small annual plants and insects which need barer earth to do well, it is a trend that is hitting conservation of grasslands and woodland glade areas.

New measures, such as working closely with farmers to increase grazing, are needed to help these habitats and their wildlife cope with climate change, he said.

He added: ‘It’s hard to put any single event down to climate change but overall impact is quite staggering.

‘It’s not just on land, it’s sea, it’s the ocean warming and what turns up here on our shores, Portuguese man o’ war, jellyfish, bluefin tuna, minke whales, which also suggests it’s not just a terrestrial issue.’

Mr Oates urged people to sign up to citizen science projects monitoring nature, to help inform experts about what was happening in the countryside.

And more ‘landscape-scale’ conservation efforts are needed to help British wildlife cope with climate change and other issues such as invasive species, he said.

‘Wildlife needs to be able to break out of its nature reserves prison, you can’t keep these guys in small, pocket handkerchief reserves, it’s really essential, particularly with climate change as a lot of things need to move north.

‘We need much better conservation in the landscape, and it’ll mean more beauty, more wonder, more noticeable landscapes,’ he said.

IMAGES:

Four seasons merged into just one in the past year – confusing birds, bees and plants, according to a report. Mild start to winter and a damp summer was the story of 2017’s weather, according to a review of the year by the National Trust PA

This ‘blurring’ of the seasons was a mixed blessing for wildlife, the charity said. Bumblebees appeared in January due to mild conditions and spring flowers bloomed early PA

Storms and warm seas brought Portuguese man o’ war (pictured), jellyfish, bluefin tuna and minke whales to our shores

For more on this story go to: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-5215931/Blurring-seasons-confuses-birds-bees-plants.html#ixzz52ZwvTfR4