Effects of Warm and Early Spring on UK Wildlife

[~T~]

I wish it was warm up here. It feels like March weather rather than June weather

[RKB]

Originally Posted by david156

Its good that the list all the positives, but what about the negatives. One such example I saw somewhere is that cuckoo's arriving at there normal time are finding fewer nests with eggs in and more with chicks caused by the earlier springs that we seem to be getting, and thus they are unable to lay which is causing the reduction of their numbers.

Doesn't hold up. Their target species are multi-brooded, so they have plenty of chances throughout April-June.

[RKB]

Originally Posted by Hobjob

Bluetits

These birds winter in the UK but seemed to emerge from the cold weather relatively unscathed. Because they rely on caterpillars, which are plentiful, they have not been affected by a reduction in worm numbers caused by drought.

But they are still massively affected by the timing of the caterpillar peak. This year early nesters did well, but later nesters were too late because the very warm weather meant that the caterpillars grew too quickly. Many early nesters also tried to make up time by beginning incubation early, before they had finished laying, so many broods had young of staggered ages rather than the same age. This meant the younger ones couldn't compete, and chick mortality was quite high in some areas.