Wildlife and the Flooding

[Kymba]

I have just watched the news about all the Torrential Rain and Flooding all around the Country and am wondering what and how will this of effected our Wildlife...
How many young and different Species will be Lost.. Will some species of been completely wiped out ????
So Much natural habitat will of been Destroyed and washed away..

[demicav]

We had a very wet and windy day yesterday here in Lancashire and I know some areas were hit with bad flooding. I've been worrying about my Pwllheli Adders in Wales but I think they would have retreated down holes, unless they were flooded out. There's been no sign of any garden birds yesterday, hope they're ok as the day before there were a lot of fledglings in the garden. I would like to think that wildlife will recover and move on like we have to, hopefully.

[Ukwildlifeo]

fear not kymba - unlike our councils/government nature is well adapted to 'disaters' like this. Anything thats lots young will recover as the floods bring in lots of nutrients to the areas flooded which is mostly a good thing

[JonSadler]

Ukwildlifeo has it right. Most species of animals (and plants) have some means of dealing with extremes in weather. I am sure some animals will have had a tough time (lost clutches of eggs/youngsters etc) but additional clutches are possible. And on the bright side some species actually need flood disturbance to live. I have spent a fair bit of my professional life studying animals living on gravel and sand bars in rivers. Without the floods these species would not have a habitat. Constant recycling of the sediments by the floods are a necessary element in that habitat.

There's always sunshine after rain...or so Dire Straits would say - couldn't resist it...sorry.

Jon

[Kymba]

Thats good to hear I did Know some would beneit from the flooding.
That just leaves the Insects How many of them will not of survived
We are lucky here in kent we seemed to of missed most of the really bad weather.

Oh and Jon Welcome to WAB. With your Knowledge you will become a Valuable member of this amazing Site

[Ipso Facto]

Originally Posted by JonSadler

There's always sunshine after rain...or so Dire Straits would say ...Jon

I sure hope so. I spent most of yesterday in the rain on the M62 crossing the Pennines - it took 3.25 hours to drive just 80 miles! - Not much sign of wildlife but it was pretty difficult just seeing through the windscreen.

[Dogghound]

Originally Posted by Kymba

IHow many young and different Species will be Lost.. Will some species of been completely wiped out ????

There is a very very very low chance of an entire species being wiped out, unless it is extremely rare, as the others have said most species are adapted to cope with moderate changes in environmental conditions. Mammals and birds particularly will be fine, amphibians and reptiles will be fine, invertibrates also are an extremely adaptable and hardy group of organisms, the ones that do die will provide easy food for the birds.

[dragonfly]

hya iam a plotholder on an allotment site in hull where we had floods we originised a rescue
response we did our best to save loads of different animals some where placed in greenhouses to dry out and get warm others where moved these even a report of peole fishing in the high streets of hull for fish to return to the river hull

[demicav]

Originally Posted by dragonfly

hya iam a plotholder on an allotment site in hull where we had floods we originised a rescue
response we did our best to save loads of different animals some where placed in greenhouses to dry out and get warm others where moved these even a report of peole fishing in the high streets of hull for fish to return to the river hull

A good deed that.

[demicav]

Originally Posted by JonSadler

Ukwildlifeo has it right. Most species of animals (and plants) have some means of dealing with extremes in weather. I am sure some animals will have had a tough time (lost clutches of eggs/youngsters etc) but additional clutches are possible. And on the bright side some species actually need flood disturbance to live. I have spent a fair bit of my professional life studying animals living on gravel and sand bars in rivers. Without the floods these species would not have a habitat. Constant recycling of the sediments by the floods are a necessary element in that habitat.

There's always sunshine after rain...or so Dire Straits would say - couldn't resist it...sorry.

Jon

Some good points. I like the saying " there's always sunshine after the rain ". Very poignant. Welcome to the site by the way.

[protector20]

flooding will cause immense destruction.....you are caring for the animals....i think you have forgotten about the humans....

[rscott74]

Be fair Protectot20 - this is a wild life forum. I hope you accept that the needs and greed of us humans have caused greater harm to the environment than the recent floods have to humans.
I have great sympathy for those adversely affected by flooding but looking after the total environment is important for our suvival. This forum, I believe, plays a part in that respect.

[Billy Wobble Dagger]

Originally Posted by Kymba

I have just watched the news about all the Torrential Rain and Flooding all around the Country and am wondering what and how will this of effected our Wildlife...
How many young and different Species will be Lost.. Will some species of been completely wiped out ????
So Much natural habitat will of been Destroyed and washed away..

I visited the River Windrush on Sunday, the first time since the floods started a week last Friday, and two weeks after I filmed the water vole. (See Water Vole Video thread). What a difference a week makes, most of the river had burst its banks and where it hadn't the fields behind were underwater. An old boy I met on one of the bridges said the water had dropped by at least 8". I don't think any of the water voles could have survived that amount of water, not only would the fast flowing water be a problem but looking at what’s visible of the bank, there are no suitable areas for burrows. Any water voles that have survived with out burrows will be picked of quickly in the open by any number of hungry mouths and beaks. I hope I am wrong and some of these little creatures will have survived. The number of dragon and damsel flies also seemed on the very low side considering the warmth yesterday morning

I'll of course keep WAB updated over the next few weeks as I restart the water vole surveys.

BWD

[Urisk]

I think most animals will tend to be fine. They're smart enough not to build on floodplains at least. Plus they're quite able to just up and move at the first sign of any danger. I think its safe to say we're probably the only animal that can put self-preservation in second place behind becoming a wage-slave and setting up home.

[Tormentil]

I would have thought that they would have been thousands of insects lost. Those that cannot fly long distances especially would have been very vunerable. Remember, a short distance to us, is a vast distance to some insects. I'm sure the waters rose faster than most bugs can crawl.

[paulchandler6]

We've had it reasonably bad here in Oxfordshire, but I think wildlife adapt to these situations well, obviuosly some will suffer but the most will get through OK and will even create oppurtunities for other species. All in all the balance will be maintained (except how humans affect it)

[Billy Wobble Dagger]

This is the first newspaper article I've seen with regard to wildlife and the recent floods,

Rare species suffer as floods wash away young - Independent Online Edition > Wildlife

It looks like some have suffered.


BWD