Now we all know that if there’s one thing us Brits like to talk about it’s the weather! So just what is going on this year? We’ve seen parts of the UK in drought and other parts in flood.
But what does it all mean for our wildlife? We asked reserve staff up and down the UK what it meant for the wildlife on their reserves. This is what they said:
Total washout
The Ouse Washes in Cambridgeshire should now be a patchwork of grassland and pools.
But Jon Reeves, Site Manager, says that currently it’s looking like ‘a giant inland sea’. Now this is great for the passing terns, but not so good for the breeding waders and ducks. All 600 pairs of breeding waders, and 800 pairs of ducks, have been washed out. Many of the waders are currently looking to relocate, but things are looking tough.
It’s a similar story from just down the road at the Nene Washes. Charlie Kitchin remarks: ‘The year-long drought that so badly affected the 2011 breeding season and meant last winter was dry with few wildfowl came to a dramatic end in April. A flood has all but wiped out the nesting season. Hopefully the birds will have time to nest again if the flood water recedes quickly.’
Wet underfoot
In north-west Wales, nestled next to the River Conwy lies the Conwy reserve itself. ‘We’ve missed the worst of the weather and, although it’s a bit wet underfoot, nothing that’s really affecting wildlife except that we’ve barely seen any butterflies’ Site Manager Julian Hughes comments. He’s also happy that the recent rain will make it easier for thrushes etc to find food, as the soil isn’t as rock hard as it’s been in recent springs.
Wrong kind of rain!
‘It’s the wrong kind of rain!’ says Julian Nash, Site Manager of our North Kent reserves. Although, like the other Julian in Wales, he’s pleased that it’s alleviated the recent drought conditions: ‘The rainfall has really helped maintain conditions for breeding waders at a key time.’ So why’s it the wrong type? ‘Persistent heavy rain can kill off young wader chicks, particularly lapwings, as they can’t keep warm enough. However, so far, we’re not seeing this, so fingers crossed’.
Good for the ducks
A big wetland restoration project was completed last year on our Loch Leven nature reserve, with the aim of improving the site for breeding waders.
Reserve Warden Vicky Turnbull tells us how the weather is affecting their first breeding season with the improved wetland: ‘Our early spring lasted for two whole weeks, and I was very worried the reserve would dry out half way through the breeding season. But then the rain came and it hasn't stopped much since – our wetland's looking great, just how we want it. We did lose one lapwing nest to flooding, but other than that the rain's really helped. We want lots of mud for the waders and their chicks, and the ducks like it too.’
Let us know
Despite all this rain it’s worth remembering that parts of south and East of England are still classified as in a drought. So it’s really important to keep conserving water.
How’s the weather affecting the wildlife in your garden or local reserve? Has the drought dried you out, or the rain turned your garden into a bog? Leave a comment and let us know.
For more on our science, check out the RSPB Centre for Conservation Science web pages.
Looking at your comments (20th May) John, I must pont to my previous comment:
“The most balanced view to pursue is to know what we are most certain about based on sound evidence and on what is more variable and more difficult to determine. Progress systematically from the known to the unknown”
Also: “Now, should we not be very cautious about taking one or a few instances of weather in the UK pertaining to high or low temperatures and make them say something definitive about World Climate Change? We really need to see such in the whole picture.”
Then: “Thermodynamics predict that with higher temperatures there will be more energy in the system and extremes of weather will be more frequent, although not everywhere”.
Your “recall that in the 1970's many scientists were forecasting a new Ice Age” is an interesting point. Why were some suggesting this? It was because the geological record showed a complex cycling between periods where the permanent ice moved to lower latitudes and then retreated. These are shown to correlate with cyclic changes in the the earths graviational orbit around the sun. Based on this evidence the earth was heading for an ice age if the pattern continues.
But other evidence emerges of a confounding factor – increasing greenhouse gases in the atmosphere due to human efforts trending to warming. We could perhaps congratulate ourselves that we are averting an ice age; although continuing our efforts in the same way will brings considerable problems of a too warm a climate where thermodynamics predict that with higher temperatures there will be more energy in the system and extremes of weather will be more frequent, although not everywhere.
It was interesting to read in one of your posts: “The biggest threat birds and wildlife in general both in the UK and worldwide is destruction of habitat, this is happening because there are too many of us.” This is very evident and the “too many of us” are driving climate change that is a significant determinate factor on life’s habitats.
I think John, that you need to connect more with nature; particularly in this case with the principles of Physcs and Chemestry.