Too hot to handle?

Abstract

June, July and August 1995 in the UK were the driest months since records began 336 yrs ago. Overall it was the third hottest on record. The author outlines the affects that this exceptional weather had on British wildlife. Winners and losers are identified under the following headings: mammals (losers - moles, hedgehogs, badgers. Winners - bats, dormice); birds (losers - swallows, house martins, blackbirds, puffins. Winners - whitethroats, nightjar, hobby, woodlark, stone curlew); amphibians and reptiles (losers - tadpoles. Winners - grass snakes, common lizards); Lepidoptera (losers - small blues. Winners - migrants, high brown fritillaries, swallowtails, large blues, comma, marbled white); aquatic life - all losers; and trees (losers - beech, saplings, horse chestnut, sycamore. Winners - apple, hornbeam, ash, oak). -S.R.Harris