Too Warm And Cosy?

Wildlife Aid Foundation founder, Simon Cowell MBE, reports on the results of an unusually warm year for British wildlife

- Simon Cowell 

WHERE did the year go? It seems that just a short while ago I was writing this column and explaining that Wildlife Aid Foundation was going through an unusually busy New Year, and that I suspected climate change and a mild winter was to blame.

As the year comes to an end, we’ve had yet more evidence that natural patterns in the wild are being disrupted by milder weather. Last month, a member of the public brought three ducklings into our Leatherhead centre. In almost 40 years rescuing wildlife, I have never seen ducklings born so late in the year. The sight of fluffy ducklings is more commonly associated with the first blooms of spring, rather than the first signs of Christmas.