Are trees/shrubs fruiting earlier this year? Will birds suffer in autumn?

[ruthchmbrs]

Hi - Casual observations make me think that this year, prob owing to the warmest ever spring, trees and shrubs are coming into berry and fruit earlier than usual. I don't know my phenology well enough really, but do hawthorn berries usually start to form before the end of June? I live in Durham, and have noted this - if it takes them 2-3 months to become ripe then I suppose birds in autumn will be able to feed as usual, but what if the berries ripen in late summer? Won't there be a huge shortage of food for wild birds in Sept/October? Hope I'm worried unnecessarily, but any comments / clarifications will be received with interest. Thanks!

[The Woodman]

I was wondering about similar things yesterday. I have a holly outside my office window which usually bears a mass of berries. They have reddened nicely these last few weeks but the blackbirds have stripped the tree clean.

There was a bird yesterday shovelling them down, normally seen doing this in winter. I've never seen them do this before at this time of year.

Elder has just finished flowering here, later than usual.

[ruthchmbrs]

That surely is a bit worrying. Urban birds' food would be supplemented by feeders etc., but it's the populations in the wider countryside that may suffer. Can only wait & see I suppose.