Jim Densham, from RSPB Scotland, brings us this latest blog on climate change and Show the Love ahead of Valentine's Day.
Did you ‘Show the Love’ for nature this weekend? Many people did and were getting out into nature, the countryside, and onto RSPB Scotland reserves to say they don’t want to lose special places and nature because of climate change. A new report shows the wide variety of places that we love that are being damaged by extreme weather now - from Skara Brae to village pubs, coastal paths and woodlands. There is strong scientific evidence showing that climate change is a key reason for this.
On Saturday I went with my family to climb Beinn Dubh to the west of Luss on Loch Lomond. At 657m it’s someway off a Munro but still a good walk on a cold and windy winter’s day for two boys (and me!). It was wonderful to be in the hills and have a good view of Loch Lomond’s islands, Ben Lomond across the loch, mountain’s sweeping round to the north, and away to the Clyde and Dumbarton in the south. It wasn’t long before we were walking through patches of snow and then up onto the real stuff, a couple of feet deep where it had drifted and filled hollows.
Since 1962 weather records show a trend towards fewer days of snow cover each year in Scotland. For example, the number of days of snow cover in the west of Scotland has reduced from an average of 20 days per year to just 13 days in 2005. Climate change is making snow less common in the Scottish mountains, especially at the ends of the season - in autumn and in spring. Not much fun if you are a winter sports fan but potentially life and death for wildlife which relies on snow cover for survival. Mountain hares, for example, have adapted to change colour in autumn to a white pelt in order to blend in with the snowy mountains so that they can to avoid eagles and other predators. A recent newspaper article highlighted that this winter has been the worst for snowfall in 10 years and is making life tough for our mountain hares.
Snow cover is also really important for some alpine plants, like snow pearlwort and highland saxifrage. They are adapted to the insulating benefits of a blanket of snow through the winter and into the spring to protect them from harsh wind and frost. With less snow cover late into the spring these delicate plants could be ravaged by another of climate change’s impacts, more frequent storms.
On the way up I asked my kids what they love in nature. For my youngest it’s all about forests (preferably rainforests), chameleons, parrots and treehouses. For my older son, he said that being in nature makes him feel happy. Leaving aside the usual bit of moaning on the way up, we did all enjoy the snowy slopes this weekend, especially after reaching the top when the kids rolled and slid down the slopes, even where there wasn’t snow!
Scotland’s mountains themselves won’t disappear because of climate change but their delicate plants and vegetation, birds, mammals and the bogs, are all vulnerable. Travel to the mountains, working and living in them, and how we use them in our leisure time could all become more challenging. How they look in winter is already changing so let’s show the love for our snowy mountains in winter, and all the other nature we love so much.
Get involved with us and our coalition partner Stop Climate Chaos Scotland. There’s still time to get involved: there’s still time to halt climate change.