The National Trust has warned that storms, drought and record breaking heat could become the new norm, while it lamented a "devastating year" for seabirds on the North East coast.
The conservation charity said that this year's "litany" of weather extremes had been challenging for nature in its annual review of the year, from habitats scorched by wildfire to bats, birds, butterflies and natterjack toads being hit by drought. It warned that 2022 was a "stark illustration" of the difficulties many UK species could face, unless there is more action to tackle climate change and help nature cope - with extremes likely to worsen as temperatures rise.
Despite a warm January, back-to-back storms brought down trees in January. Then the country saw a dry spring, summer heatwaves where temperatures exceeded 40°C for the first time in the UK and drought, before ending with a freezing snap in December.
