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Signs of autumn are already in the hedgerows and woods after the wettest and stormiest winter on record, says National Trust naturalist Matthew Oates
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File photo: signs of autumn are beginning to be seen across Britain- view across the River Thames towards Richmond-on-Thames on June 28th Photo: Alamy
By Raziye Akkoc
6:00AM BST 01 Jul 2014
Nature is hurtling “helter-skelter” through the seasons and after the wettest and stormiest winter on record autumn is already beginning to appear, conservationists have said.
After an early spring and summer, autumn, which normally arrives in late September, is already making itself known in the hedgerow and woods, according to Matthew Oates, a National Trust naturalist.
Mr Oates said: “Looking at this year, where does it want to be? It raged its way through winter, then we went into an incredibly early spring, and then it rushed helter-skelter through spring without stopping for breath.”
He said: "There are really strong signs of autumn already here, like the beech nuts, it's an amazing beech mast year and the nuts are incredibly well developed.
"We're ahead still, remarkably ahead, birds have largely stopped singing, a lot of butterflies are very early and are still coming out early," he said, pointing to early arrivals of high summer butterflies including chalk hill blues and purple emperors.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/topics/weather/10936528/Nature-hurtling-helter-skelter-through-seasons-with-signs-of-autumn-on-show.html
