The National Trust says this year’s weather is a stark illustration of the challenges facing nature.
Image source, PA MediaThe National Trust has warned that extreme weather seen in the UK in 2022 has set a benchmark for what a typical year could be like from now on.
The charity said high temperatures, drought and back-to-back storms have created major challenges for nature.
In its annual review, it described such conditions as the “new normal”.
It said this year was a “stark illustration” of the difficulties many UK species could face without more action to tackle climate change.
The hot summer and months of low rainfall dried up rivers, fragile chalk streams and ponds, damaged crops and natural habitats, and fuelled wildfires that destroyed landscapes, the charity said.
Wildfires on National Trust land scorched areas such as Zennor Head, Cornwall, Bolberry Down in south Devon, Baggy Point in north Devon and Studland in Dorset, destroying homes of species including rare sand lizards.
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The dry conditions impacted natterjack toads, whose shallow ponds for breeding dried up, and bats that had to be rescued in the heatwave.
Trees planted last winter to store carbon and boost woodland habitat were hit by the drought and extreme heat, with 50% of saplings lost on estates such as Wimpole in Cambridgeshire and Buscot and Coleshill in Oxfordshire.
The National Trust’s climate change adviser, Keith Jones, said there was “no escaping” how challenging this year’s weather had been for nature.
“Drought, high temperatures, back-to-back storms, unseasonal heat, the recent cold snap and floods means nature, like us, is having to cope with a new litany of weather extremes,” he said.
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He added weather experts were predicting the future would see more torrential downpours, along with very dry and hot summers.
Alongside the weather extremes this year, wild birds were also hit by avian flu, with thousands of seabirds dying in colonies on the Farne Islands off the coast of Northumberland, where they had returned to breed.
The National Trust said conservation work to improve habitats was helping make the environment and species more resilient to the changes brought by rising temperatures.