British wildlife is under siege as the UK enters the third heatwave of the summer off the back of the driest spring in more than a century. ...
British wildlife is under siege as the UK enters the third heatwave of the summer off the back of the driest spring in more than a century.
While the warm weather may come as a welcome boost for some, the hot temperatures are causing water shortages and shrinking food supplies for bees, butterflies, and frogs across the country.
“Many species struggle to cope with temperatures that challenge their natural ability to regulate heat,” Dr Jesse Abrams, a climate scientist at the University of Exeter, told The i Paper.
“The recent heatwaves are likely to have impacted insects, such as caterpillars, because they are unable to control their body heat.
“Heat stress is also likely to have affected bird populations, which also struggle to regulate their body heat because they cannot sweat and have a higher core body temperature.”
As well as the short term impact of heatwaves, Dr Abrams warned that due to climate change, some species in the UK may cease to exist in the coming decades.
Ten of the species most at risk of disappearing from the UK because of climate change
- Turtle dove
- Cuckoo
- Red squirrel
- Scottish wildcat
- Hedgehog
- Peregrine falcon
- Short-eared owl
- Barnacle goose
- Puffin
- Manx shearwater
“The UK faces a biodiversity crisis that will accelerate dramatically over the next 20 to 30 years due to climate change. By 2050, the UK will experience at least another half a degree of warming, with warmer and wetter winters and drier and hotter summers. This will push many iconic species toward extinction,” Dr Abrams added.
Ameyalli Hernandez, also of Exeter University, has witnessed the pressure the heatwaves are putting on wildlife first hand.
She’s been surveying insects in Dorset, Oxfordshire and Devon found the hot weather is transforming butterfly feeding patterns and sapping bee populations of their energy.
Ms Hernandez said: “I noticed the butterflies starting to forage earlier, stopping between 1PM and 5PM because it was too hot and then staying active until 9PM, which normally in cooler conditions would not happen. Activity usually drops significantly after 5PM.
“But what really caught my attention was the number of bumblebees that I saw which were very weak and tired out. With the heatwaves lots of plants that tend to stay in bloom for longer – offering both a source of protein (pollen) and sugar (nectar) – have died off sooner, meaning food resources are limited.”
“Because they are bigger than most solitary bees [which don’t live in colonies], they take longer to cool off, so it could be that they were not able to regulate their temperature and didn’t find enough food resources to fly back to the hive,” she said.
Scientists say the recent heatwaves in the UK have been driven by climate change. But even when we’re not in a heatwave – loosely defined as three consecutive days of exceptionally hot weather – climate change is taking a huge toll on wildlife more generally, according to Dr Abrams.
Citing the State of Nature report produced by 60 expert organisations, he points out that 16 per cent of species are already at risk of becoming extinct in the UK, with this figure being much higher for some groups such as birds (43 per cent), amphibians and reptiles (31 per cent), and terrestrial mammals (26 per cent).
“As the planet continues to warm, some of Britain’s most beloved wildlife face imminent threats: the turtle dove population has declined by 98 per cent since the 1950s and may disappear entirely, while hedgehog numbers have crashed by 95 per cent since the 1950s, with almost a third of the population lost since 2000 alone. Red squirrels are already all but extinct in England and Wales and the Scottish wildcat is critically endangered,” Dr Abrams said.
“The crisis extends beyond individual species to entire ecosystems, with rising sea temperatures disrupting marine food chains as zooplankton struggle in warmer waters, starving prey fish like sand eels, and ultimately the seabirds that depend on them. Scotland’s globally important seabirds have already declined by nearly half between 1986 and 2019, threatening species like Manx shearwaters (with the UK hosting an estimated 80 per cent of the world’s population) and puffins,” he said.
How animals are affected by heatwaves:
Birds
Birds have a higher core body temperature than many other animals, which makes them more susceptible to heat stress. They don’t have sweat glands, so struggle to maintain their body temperature in hot weather. This is why you may have seen birds ‘panting’ in the latest heatwaves – as they open their beaks to try and lose some heat, according to the Woodland Trust.
Despite not being able to sweat, birds still lose a lot of water in hot weather: in their droppings and through respiration. This, combined with their water sources drying up, means they struggle to rehydrate and keep their feathers in good condition. The hot weather disrupts intricate food chains as it dries up the soil and impacts the insect populations many birds rely on.
Frogs and toads
Hot weather can seriously affect amphibian lifecycles. Warmer water may mean that tadpoles develop faster, but it can also dry up ponds. When this happens, young frogs and toads may leave the pond before they’re fully developed. If they haven’t yet reached the stage where they should leave the pond, they will simply die. Drier conditions also make it harder for amphibians to find the damp, cool spots where they usually take refuge.
Insects
Heatwaves cause huge problems for insects as hot weather scorches the plants that insects feed on and kills young caterpillars. Bumblebees are particularly affected by rising temperatures. Their furry coat means they quickly overheat and can’t fly or forage. They can store food reserves in their nests, but these last for just a few days.
Mammals
Droughts make it extremely difficult for badgers and hedgehogs to dig their claws into hard ground to find beetles and worms.
And as water sources dry up, staying hydrated becomes difficult. This is particularly catastrophic for cubs and hoglets. Whether they’re still being fed or find themselves caught in a drought once they’ve left the sett or nest, they could face malnutrition.
While climate change is causing problems for many animals in the UK, there are others that are benefiting.
“Climate change is driving in different directions depending on which group of birds you look at. There are groups for which it is demonstrably negative because of the impact on food supply and ecology – such as upland and mountain birds,” Jeremy Wilson, head of science at RSPB, told The i Paper.
He says that birds in the uplands and mountainous parts of the UK, where it is cooler, are suffering the most because many are already close the limit to their geographical range.
As the temperatures warm, the danger is they will be pushed further north in search of cooler conditions, taking them out of the UK.
“But there are groups which in the UK are benefitting such as waterbirds like herons and egrets.
“These would historically have been regarded more as southern European Mediterranean species but they are colonising the UK and we’re seeing them on our nature reserves in the south of England in particular. So little egrets are now quite common, spoon bills have colonised and heathland species like Dartford Warbler are doing well,” he said.
How to help wildlife in a summer heatwave
- Provide water. Leave out water for mammals in a shallow bowl. Ground-dwelling birds like blackbirds may also use it.
- Leave an area of your garden to grow wild. This will provide much-needed shade for wildlife of all shapes and sizes.
- Put down moist foods for birds and badgers. You could include soaked sultanas and currants. Or try wet cat food for hedgehogs (no mealworms!).
- Top up your pond. This helps amphibians struggling to find a damp, sheltered spot and means they have somewhere to soak.
Source: Woodland Trust
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