Lurch from drought to deluge sees another mixed year for UK wildlife as National Trust thanks supporters who’ve helped hundreds of projects

Lurch from drought to deluge sees another mixed year for UK wildlife as National Trust thanks supporters who’ve helped hundreds of projects - The National Trust

Global ‘red alert’ for nature with 2024 declared world’s hottest year on record
Wet, mild and dull year is stark contrast to record-breaking warm years of 2022 and 2023
Storms bookend the year with flooding and high winds toppling trees at various National Trust places across the country
Wet weather resets water tables relieving stress for trees and peatlands but sees numbers of some butterfly species crash
Unseasonal weather causing confusion for wildlife and the loss of our once predictable seasons

Head of great crested newt seen in bright green wetland vegetation — In Pembrokeshire the team witnessed male Great Crested Newts doing their mating displays in January, two months earlier than typical due to the mild winter. This resulted in a prolonged breeding period which could have a positive effect, but on the flip side, the hibernation period was much shorter – the impacts of which won’t be known for a couple of years. (Great crested newt © National Trust Images Rob Coleman)

New breeding grey seal colony confirmed on National Trust land – the first in Suffolk
A mixed year for seabirds in the wake of bird flu – with some species faring better than others with puffin numbers stable but a poor year for shags and fluctuating fortunes for terns
Fungi benefits from a mild and wet autumn which was later and longer than usual due to mild weather but brought to an abrupt end by storm Bert with storm Darragh toppling trees and battering swathes of the west coast of the UK
Mysterious disease strikes native white clawed crayfish and sycamores latest tree species to be hit by new disease
Quirks of 2024’s weather impacts typical timings for breeding for certain species

With 2024 declared the world’s hottest year on record in December, ferocious storms bookended a very wet and mild year in the UK, prompting fresh fears for climate change’s impacts on wildlife.

Keith Jones, Climate Change Adviser at the National Trust said: “Climate change has exacerbated weather events around the world. As the world continues to get hotter, this trend hides a world of extremes - both deluge and drought and shifting patterns. This is not ‘new’ news in that these are patterns which we previously predicted – but the reality is now playing out in real time, impacting landscapes, nature and the places we look after. With global temperature rise, scientists have previously said that the UK is likely to see wetter weather, and this was certainly true this year. In a warm and wet year such as 2024, it’s the outliers – the unusual sightings that become the warning beacons for what’s happening to our wildlife and seasons."

Keith continued: "Due to the cool and wet start to the year, bluebells flowered later, and this was reflected in our gardens where spring displays were slow to get going, but then performed well with plenty of moisture to keep plants strong.Due to the mild temperatures in September and October, autumn arrived later too with some unusual sites including the reflowering of brambles and garden shrubs such as roses. These conditions stimulated grass growth resulting in our ranger and gardening teams mowing lawns later into the year than is typical." He concluded: “Our unpredictable weather is resulting in confusion for our wildlife and the slow loss of what once were ‘predictable’ seasons.