Changeable UK weather sees increase in seal birth rates good for butterflies and orchids

Britain’s changeable weather this year was good for seals, butterflies and orchids but bad for puffins and terns

  • Atlantic grey seal pup numbers reached a record high in the UK in December 
  • The hot summer also gave a boost to butterflies and exotic flowers like orchids
  • But the storms that followed posed problems for water voles and puffins  

The ever-changing weather left some wildlife a little fazed this year – but, on the flip side, it proved a triumph for seals.

Biologists found they are thriving along the UK’s shores with the number of Atlantic grey seal pups hitting a new high this month, apparently because their ocean habitats are in good health.

They counted 3,068 at Blakeney Point reserve in Norfolk compared to last year’s 3,012 and 2,000 in 2014. This year’s births put numbers there at more than 7,000.

The hot summer also gave a boost to butterflies, wildflowers and rare vagrant birds, the National Trust’s review of 2019 found.

The ever-changing weather left some wildlife a little fazed this year – but, on the flip side, it proved a triumph for seals

Biologists found seals are thriving along the UK's shores with the number of Atlantic grey pups hitting a new high this month, apparently because their ocean habitats are in good health

Biologists found seals are thriving along the UK’s shores with the number of Atlantic grey pups hitting a new high this month, apparently because their ocean habitats are in good health

It showed 420,000 painted lady butterflies arrived en masse for the first time since 2008. 

And a rare moth extinct in the UK since in the 1960s, the Clifden nonpareil, was seen in Killerton, Devon. Dragonflies were also in higher numbers.

Rare birds spotted over the summer included the brown booby from Venezuela and the American black tern and a red-eyed vireo. 

Certain wildflowers also did well with record numbers of bee orchid, dark-red helleborine, autumn lady’s tresses and green-winged orchids across south-east Cumbria and Morecambe Bay.

But storms posed problems for water voles, puffins and sandwich terns.

The hot summer also gave a boost to butterflies, wildflowers and rare vagrant birds, the National Trust's review of 2019 found

The hot summer also gave a boost to butterflies, wildflowers and rare vagrant birds, the National Trust’s review of 2019 found

And the outbreak of fire on Marsden Moor in West Yorkshire over the Easter weekend was a catastrophe for mountain hares and curlew and twite birds. 

It was also a challenging year for natterjack toads as their habitats dried out in May and June.

Ben McCarthy, the National Trust’s head of conservation, said: ‘Sightings of migrant insects and birds are becoming more common due to our changing climate.

‘The obvious flip side is how it affect some of our native species already under pressure.’

But storms posed problems for water voles, puffins and sandwich terns

But storms posed problems for water voles, puffins and sandwich terns

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