New analysis shows that spring is the fastest-warming season in the United Kingdom largely down to climate change.
A report by Climate Central, external, an independent organisation on climate research, has found that all four seasons are warming but at different rates.
The average spring temperature has increased by 1.8C since 1970 making it the fastest warming season for all four nations of the UK.
Autumn is the second fastest at 1.6C.
Changing seasons
While meteorological and astronomical seasons are known in advance (1 March and this year 20 March respectively) there is another measure we can use to track the course of nature: phenological.
This follows biological events and their response to weather and climate.
According to the Joint Nature Conservation Committee which advises the Government, key events that herald the start of spring are happening on average nine days earlier, external than a quarter of a century ago.
Changing phenology
Data given to BBC Weather by Nature’s Calendar, external – a citizen science project by the Woodland Trust – demonstrates how climate change is triggering natural events.
Since 2000 they have used public sightings of plants, animals and fungi to log the effects of weather and climate on nature.
Alex Marshall from Nature’s Calendar explained how important the data is to “see how nature is responding to our changing climate”.
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Looking at when bluebells and frogspawn start to appear in the spring shows some clear trends over time.
Both are appearing earlier in April and March respectively.
Frogspawn sightings were the earliest on record in 2024.
First sightings averaged across the UK on 24 February, 17 days before the benchmark or average date, according to Nature’s Calendar.
This year, frogspawn has already been spotted in southern England with early indications that when all data is in, the average sightings will be on par with last.
First frogspawn of year spotted in Isle of Scilly
Alex Marshall from Nature’s Calendar said: “In general, spring is getting earlier due to higher temperatures, particularly at the start of the season.
“We’ve already had one record of common frog tadpoles from Cornwall on 16 February, the first tadpole record of the year.
“Warmer weather at the end of winter tricks species like the frog into thinking it’s time to start reproducing.
“That becomes a problem, though, if some early March frosts occur which can kill the developing tadpoles…one negative impact of them coming out a bit early.”
Reported by BBC
