As wildlife is so dependent upon the prevailing weather conditions, it is always worth looking back over the year to put the recorded wildlife events into context.
As I wrote this article in late November, we had experienced one of the warmest and sunniest autumns on record. Climate change is already well underway and could have both dramatic negative and positive impacts for our native wildlife.
The beginning of the year started very mild, with January being the warmest since 1916 with sunshine levels well above average. February continued the mild theme but it was a wet month, in fact the wettest since 1990.
As spring approached, March was a mild month with well above average levels of sunshine and only around 50% of the monthly rainfall. April continued the theme and, for everybody who remembers, it was the month which replaced the real summer this year.
