Page 61 - BBC Wildlife Volume 36 #10
P. 61
NEWS FEATURE
The heatwave, while extreme, has
not been the only scorcher in recent
years. While we cooled of with a choc
ice, our temperate maritime habitats
sufered. If this is the future, how will
OUR SUMMER? our lora and fauna cope?
Report by Richard Smyth
his is the year the conditions, the repercussions
UK sweltered. The for other species can be serious.
satellite heat-map “Seed-eaters that rely on the
was a rash of autumn seed crop might be
red. For six weeks affected, as many seed-bearing
many of us were plants are burned off in drought
Tsleeping badly and conditions,” says Paul Stancliffe of
praying for rain – and wild things the British Trust for Ornithology
were also feeling the heat. (BTO). “Fruit crops may ripen
Sustained warm, dry weather early and be smaller – that
tests the resilience of ecosystems could mean a berry shortage for
like few other natural phenomena. thrushes and migrant warblers
Climate change will only make such as blackcaps.”
scorching summers such as 2018,
2003, or most famously 1976, Winners and losers
more common. How will plants, As with many insects, butterflies
mammals, birds and invertebrates were very visible this summer.
cope and what might the future “UK butterflies tend to do very
hold as the global temperature well in hot weather,” explains
mean creeps upwards? Richard Fox of Butterfly
Some challenges are obvious. Conservation. “It enables them to
Hard-baked soil is impenetrable be active, find mates, disperse to
to the bills of insectivorous new areas and, most importantly,
birds – not just the blackbirds lay eggs for the next generation.”
on our lawns, but also breeding But food plants wither in the
waders such as curlews (already heat. “Drought impacts severely
in steep decline). on the survival of caterpillars of
As earthworms the current generation,” continues
and other soil Fox. “This leads to depleted
animals burrow further populations in future. After the
down in search of cool 1976 drought numbers of
moisture, mammals butterflies didn’t recover
are also liable to suffer. fully until 1984.”
Fox cubs and hedgehogs There are likely
are denied an invaluable to be winners and
protein source; walkers losers – though it’s
might find starved moles, a delicate balance.
forced above ground in search “Some are more
of alternative food sources. drought-sensitive
Conservationists are keeping than others.
a close eye on food-chains: if Species such as
one link gives way due to dry the speckled
October 2018 BBC Wildlife 61
