Wildlife's winners and losers of 2021 - and how extreme weather set the tone

By Justin Rowlatt
The climate editor.

Kelvin Boyes is a press eye.

There is a fire in the mountains of Northern Ireland.

The National Trust says that wildlife in the UK is increasingly suffering from extreme weather events and natural disasters.

Climate change is making some forms of extreme weather the new normal and the charity warns that some of the landscapes it cares for are being altered forever.

The National Trust estates in Northern Ireland and Yorkshire were devastated by wildfires in the very dry spring.

The golden plover and Irish hare are threatened by the fires.

Victoria Holland is a member of the National Trust.

There was a fire on Marsden Moor.

The National Trust/Marc Vinas.

There is a golden plover in the mountains.

The National Trust/Marc Vinas.

The Irish hare was seen in the mountains.

The charity says that our warmer, wetter winters have accelerated the spread of diseases such as ash dieback, causing significant loss of trees.

Storm Arwen ripped through the north of the country in November, causing widespread destruction, but this year's settled and warm autumn led to a spectacular show of colour.

The National Trust land in the Lake District and Bodnant Garden in Wales were destroyed by it.

National Trust/Paul Harris.

There is a view of the damage done by Storm Arwen at Bodnant Garden.

More than half of the oak and beech trees at Wallington were damaged.

Ben McCarthy, head of nature conservativism at the trust, warns that the extreme events are putting more pressure on Britain's wildlife.

More than half of the UK's species are already in decline and 15% are under threat of extinction.

He says that isolated or small populations are the most at risk from climate impacts. Some plants and animals have flourished this year.

The National Trust has a run down of winners andlosers on 250,000 hectares of countryside, 780 miles of coastline and 500 historic properties, gardens and nature reserves.

The grey seal colonies cared for by the National Trust are expecting an increase in pup numbers due to a lack of prey.

There were record numbers of seals at Orford Ness. 200 people were out on the beach together and stayed for several days.

National Trust/David Crawshaw.

Seals at Orford Ness.

National Trust/Hanne Siebers.

The carpets of pyramidal orchids were laid across the common in the warm June and dry May.

Autumn lady's-tresses, the latest flowering UK orchid species, had a very good year thanks to the cold wet May. The plant's white flowers appeared in thousands at some grassland and sand dunes in southern England and Wales.

John Newbould is a National Trust employee.

The lady's hair is multi-stemmed.

There was good news for the beavers when they were released on the Holnicote Estate. Their first kit was born in June.

National Trust/Nick Upton.

The National Trust's Holnicote Estate is home to a raven.

The National Trust is a non profit organization.

The night cam at the Holnicote Estate caught the boa kit.

It has been a great year for grassland fungi, with waxcaps doing especially well. National Trust rangers found 17 species of fungi in one meadow.

The team discovered a striking non-native species called Devil's Fingers or Octopus Stinkhorn, which was accidentally introduced to Europe around 1920.

Steve Hindle is a National Trust employee.

Pete Carty is the National Trust.

There is a pink wax cap at Jinlye Meadows.

National Trust/Andrew Perry.

There are devil's fingers at Bircher Common.

Butterflies have had a bad year with the lowest number of insects recorded in the Big Butterfly Count.

The range of butterflies remained stable despite the cool spring, as reported by National Trust teams.

National Trust/Rob Coleman.

There is a male at the park.

Matthew Oates is the National Trust.

The trust says that oaks in the north of England had a bumper crop, while oaks in the south produced hardly any.

Oak flowers need warm weather in the north of England but not in the south.

James Dobson is a member of the National Trust.

The Westbury Court Garden has an oak.

The late frosts of April and May resulted in a poor apple harvest in northern parts of England and Northern Ireland.

It was a topsy-turvy year for terns.

The little terns abandoned their nest atBlakeney Point because they were scared off by the owls and gulls. The Trust says that the colonies of sandwich and common terns did well.

Ian Ward is a member of the National Trust.

Ian Ward is a member of the National Trust.

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