Warmer climate blurring British seasons - report
Date: 05-Sep-02
Country: UK
"The seasons are becoming increasingly muddled up and many traditional events are now being thrown out of sequence," the Woodland Trust said on its website (www.woodland-trust.org.uk).
The trust, the UK's leading woodland conservation charity, enlisted 17,000 volunteers to monitor natural events.
They found that this year's spring arrived three weeks earlier than last year, while autumn 2001 continued for several days longer than the previous one, extending well beyond the end of October.
The trust said it was concerned the complex relationships between creatures and plants were being disturbed, and that the survival of some species could be threatened.
"This may have serious consequences for many of our favourite animals, insects and trees," it warned.
Among tell-tale signs spotted by volunteers were the early arrival of the cuckoo's call - traditionally signalling the beginning of spring - and the emergence of snowdrops seven days earlier than last year.
At the end of summer, leaves changed colour and fell from trees up to two weeks later.
The milder temperatures - up to 3.2 degrees Celsius (5.6 degrees Fahrenheit) warmer than average - were not universally appreciated by humans, either.
Some people, the report said, were now condemned to having to mow their lawns all year round.
