Butterflies and bogs at risk due to climate change say conservationists
A new report from The Wildlife Trusts says the country is "shockingly underprepared" for things like droughts and flooding.
UK wildlife and habitats from butterflies to bogs have been battered by "chaotic" weather extremes driven by climate change in the past year, conservationists warn.
Climate change is accelerating at a "frightening pace", causing chaos in the UK's weather, and the country is "shockingly underprepared" for the kind of extremes we are now seeing, The Wildlife Trusts warn in a new report.
The past 12 months have seen extreme changes in weather patterns, with the warmest spring on record in 2025 and widespread drought and multiple heatwaves this summer following on from extensive flooding in winter 2024.
Nik Shelton is Head of Communications at the Wildlife Trust, for Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire. He says we're seeing birds like glossy ibis in our region due to climate change:
"The Nen Valley and a lot of our nature reserves were flooded, and have been flooded over the past couple of years. We've had extreme weather events, we've had storms. We've had lots of trees come down and then we've had a 40° heat wave a couple of years ago and we've, you know had several heat waves this year, so it's that extreme weather really which makes it very difficult for for us to manage our nature reserves, but it's also the species themselves that are struggling."
Drought and heat extremes have caused peat bogs and heathlands to dry out, while low water levels in ponds, streams and rivers have hit wildlife from trout to swifts and dragonflies, while high wildfire risks have threatened precious landscapes and the species that depend on them.
Many nature reserves cared for by trusts around the country have been hit by flooding following disruptive storms, and extremes of wet weather have hammered species such as butterflies, the report said.
The Wildlife Trusts said they "now treat extreme weather as normal weather" and are taking steps ranging from re-wiggling rivers and reintroducing beavers to create wetlands that can store water in the landscape to restoring peatlands, in order to make British wildlife and habitats more resilient.
"We're actually having to close some of our most popular woods for part of the year now, which we've not had to do before."
But the UK Government must rapidly undertake a major overhaul of efforts to adapt the country to the changes in climate to protect people, the economy and nature, the conservation groups urge.
Kathryn Brown, director of climate change and evidence at The Wildlife Trusts, said: "Our new report reveals that climate change is accelerating at a frightening pace, with worrying impacts on wildlife and nature reserves - as well as on human health and our future resilience as an economy.
"Yet while wildlife trust staff and volunteers across the UK race to adapt the way that we care for our land, Government action to address climate change is fast falling behind."
And she urged: "The events in southern Europe - where wildfires and floods have imperilled both people and wildlife - should sound the alarm loudly: we are shockingly underprepared for such extremes here in the UK.
"The UK Government must rapidly undertake a major overhaul of adaptation policy, with increased funding and co-ordination, in order to tackle this accelerating threat head on."
The report details impacts of extreme changes in weather in the past year, such as exceptionally high rainfall last autumn which saw flooding across multiple Wildlife Trust for Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire reserves after two months of rain fell in a few days.
Spring 2025 was one of the driest on record in the UK
It highlights the role of extreme weather in the "butterfly emergency" declared in September 2024, after a summer count by Butterfly Conservation showed the lowest numbers on record for some species, while a count in Yorkshire Wildlife Trust reserves showed numbers down to less than half of 2023 figures.
But then spring 2025 was one of the driest on record in the UK, as well as the warmest and sunniest, and Hertfordshire and Middlesex Wildlife Trust reported ponds drying up earlier than usual and lower numbers of swallows and swifts at Wilstone Reservoir, thought to be because of lack of small insects they feed on.
And marine heatwaves in 2024 and 2025 have affected wildlife in the seas around the UK.
Trusts around the UK are taking steps to protect nature and make landscapes more resilient to the changes, reintroducing species ranging from beavers to rare scrambled egg lichen, restoring farmland to wetlands, woodlands and grasslands, installing "butterfly banks" and creating temperate rainforests.
Nik says butterfly banks are one way our regions Wildlife Trust is trying to mitigate climate change effects for the species:
"We're creating these big capital E shaped banks. They look a little bit strange, but they're on some of our nature reserves in Bedfordshire and we've just built someone on the edge of Trumpington Meadows in Cambridgeshire and they are really to try and look at how we can give butterflies places to shelter when it gets very hot on a nature reserve so that so that they can really weather those climate impacts."
As we head into winter Nik says cooler months also pose problems as the ground becomes muddy:
"Where they used to be frozen and when you get really muddy paths and you get lots of people wanting to visit the nature reserve, then people will leave the paths and they go off into the protected areas where the trample maybe bluebells or orchids.
"It's a big problem for us and also it means that we can't get in to the to the woods to to manage them so we're actually having to close some of our most popular woods for part of the year now, which we've not had to do before. And you know that's a real shame because you know, our nature reserves are there for people to enjoy, but we're actually having to close them to visitors now."
While the report welcomes Government moves to grant wild beaver releases, maintain the fishing ban on sand eels - an important food source for birds such as puffins - in the North Sea and extending the ban on burning peat, it warns more is needed.
There has not been an increase in total investment in helping nature adapt to a changing climate, and national adaptation plans have not been specific enough, it said.
The report urges the Government to create new emergency plans for extreme wildfire, flood, drought and heat.
The Environment Department (Defra) has been contacted for comment.