Our Wild North

When I landed back in England in mid-December I was looking forward to wrapping up warm and getting in the festive mood. The day after I landed I put on a jacket and a hat and expected to feel the chill while walking the dog. In actual fact, I was too hot.  

I put it down to being in the South, but when I finally arrived in the North East it was pretty much the same. Although it was grey and miserable, the wind had a certain warmth to it.

From one of the sunniest winters on record to a late spring, a wet and windy summer and an unseasonably warm autumn, this year Britain saw a change to the expected weather pattern. This weather has been bad for puffins, who have recently been put on the red list of birds for conservation concern, because of a poor breeding season and their burrows being flooded on the Farne Islands. Many frogs and toads suffered in the South of England as a lot of pools dried up in spring. The weather also seemed to have affected wasps, with their numbers declining this year. The weather did have a positive effect on some wildlife however, with the warm autumn helping to produce a plentiful apple crop. As well as long-tailed blue butterflies, which are increasingly rare, breeding on the White Cliffs of Dover again.

I was surprised to see so many flowers still out, albeit on their last legs, as well as a few bulbs sprouting.