UK Wildlife Faces Alarming Declines Amid Unstable Weather Patterns

The UK’s National Trust has reported significant declines in insect populations and seabird species in 2024, attributing these losses to unstable weather patterns linked to the climate crisis, Anadolu Agency reported. Key species such as bees, butterflies, moths, and wasps have seen dramatic drops, with butterflies nearly absent in Somerset’s Barrington Court gardens until late summer.

In west Dorset, only 92 adonis blue butterflies were recorded this year, down from 552 in 2023. The Arctic tern, a globally threatened seabird, has also been severely impacted by the unpredictable climate.

Ben McCarthy, head of nature conservation at the trust, noted that the year’s weather swung from prolonged dryness in previous years to exceptionally wet conditions in 2024, adding stress to wildlife. Despite these grim findings, a new grey seal breeding colony was established on the east coast, and encouraging numbers of owls and other birds of prey were observed, providing some hope for biodiversity recovery.