2007: A Tough Year for UK Wildlife?

The National Trust has reported (http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2007/dec/27/conservation.climatechange) that 2007 with its unseasonally warm March/April followed by wet and cold weather from May resulted in 'chaos' in timing of events for many wild animals and plants throughout Britain. Many plants bloomed earlier than usual and numerous animals emerged from hibernation (e.g. bats) or commenced courtship (e.g. Goldeneye ducks) earlier than was typical for their species. The report suggests that particularly detrimental effects were evident on bee, butterfly and hoverfly populations (with effects on the pollination of plants). Although the report cautions against using one year's data to identify a trend (i.e. global warming), it does suggest that the weather is becoming less predictable for many UK species and that this could have a severe impact on wildlife.