Plants are flowering about a month earlier in the UK due to climate change. That’s according scientists at the University of Cambridge, who recently analysed the first flowering dates of 406 species and found a link to warmer temperatures in spring.
The researchers compared the first flowering dates before and after 1986 and found an average shift of 26 days earlier in the year. Herbs had the largest shift (32 days) compared to shrubs and trees, which may indicate they are more responsive to climate change due to their shorter time between generations. These new findings are supported by other scientific research which has consistently found that first flowering dates have shifted over the past few decades due to rising air temperatures.
