Climate Change Drives Birds Northward
Climate change is shifting the ranges of European birds northward. Many species are losing their traditional habitats as a result.
The appearance of rare birds is an unmistakable sign that the climate emergency has also reached England.
Birds such as the European bee-eater are expected to become regular visitors to the island as a result of global warming.
According to environmentalists, the rainbow-coloured bee-eaters breeding on the Norfolk coast this summer, and three rare fledged black-winged stilts in Yorkshire, are a «unmistakable warning« that the nature and climate emergency has reached Great Britain.
No Native Breeding Populations
Between 1956 and 2001, bee-eaters did not breed in England, but this is the sixth attempt this century. In 2002 the birds bred in County Durham, in 2002 in Herefordshire, in 2014 on the Isle of Wight, in 2015 in Cumbria, and in 2017 in Nottinghamshire, where the nests in the quarries failed due to poor weather.
«These seven bee-eaters are without doubt the most colourful and fascinating birds currently to be seen in Great Britain«, said Mark Thomas of the RSPB. «As wonderful a sight as this is, we must not forget that the appearance of these birds on our shores is linked to the changes in our climate and the resulting pressures on wildlife here and around the world.»
«Drawn northward by climate change, these exotic birds are most likely to become regular summer visitors in the future, having been an early and unmistakable sign over the past two decades that the environmental and climate emergency has reached our shores.«
The starling-sized bee-eaters have russet backs, blue bellies, and yellow throats, and can be observed catching bees, dragonflies, and other flying insects in mid-air.
An Unexpected Sight
This week, three black-winged stilts have fledged from what is likely the most northerly nest in Great Britain for this wading bird species at the Potteric Carr nature reserve in Doncaster — a species that is rare in this country and does not breed here every year.
«We have been waiting a long time for this, but we are thrilled«, said Andy Dalton, Operations Manager at the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust. «Potteric Carr is a green sanctuary on the outskirts of Doncaster, surrounded by busy motorways and industrial expansion – the conservation work we carry out here has a tremendous impact on wildlife, particularly on endangered species such as the black-winged stilt.«
Danny Heptinstall, Head of Strategy and Partnerships at the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust, emphasised that nature-rich areas must be protected and restored on a sufficient scale to allow species being pushed northward by global warming to find refuge in Great Britain.
«The only reason the black-winged stilts are breeding at Potteric Carr is that we have a wonderful landscape reserve of several hundred hectares, which is set to be expanded. These animals will have nowhere to go if we do not provide them with habitat in Great Britain«, said Heptinstall.
Is there hope?
«It is encouraging, exciting, and a fantastic endorsement of the work we have done at Potteric Carr — but it is also a wake-up call. The flip side is what we are losing at the same time. Yorkshire is concerned about its seabird populations, including kittiwakes, fulmars, and puffins.«
24 of the 25 breeding seabird species in the United Kingdom are listed as red or amber on the birds of conservation concern list, meaning they are at risk of local extinction.
As sea temperatures rise, fish populations are moving northward or disappearing altogether, reducing the breeding success of seabirds further south and forcing species to migrate to where food can be found.
