UK's "Increasingly Mediterranean" Climate Pushing Northern Bird Species Out - Telegraph

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Northern species of birds in Britain are dwindling while southern species are breeding more because of Britain's increasingly "Mediterranean" climate, scientists said today. Population levels of some of the rarest birds in the country have changed considerably in the last 25 years, according to a study carried out by the RSPB and the universities of Durham and Cambridge.

Researchers found that Arctic birds - such as the purple sandpiper and shore lark - which started to settle in Scotland and northern England in the 1960s and 70s are now dwindling rapidly. Conversely, species associated with more southerly climes, such as the little egret and the Cetti's warbler, are doing "phenomenally well" in the warmer temperatures.

The results, which involved studying 42 of Britain's rarest nesting birds between 1980 and 2004, were published today (wed) in the Royal Society journal Biology Letters. Dr Richard Gregory, from the RSPB, said: "Our paper clearly shows that wildlife has been affected by climate change over the last 25 years - some nature reserves in southern Britain now have an almost 'Mediterranean' feel to them.

"Many scientists have used models to predict the future changes in distribution of species responding to climate change, but our paper shows that wildlife has been responding to a changing climate for a quarter of a century at least.

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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?view=DETAILS&grid=&xml=/earth/2008/07/30/earspb130.xml