EXTREME weather including one of the hottest years on record, as well as lockdown restrictions, has had a huge impact on UK wildlife in 2020 – with peregrine falcons nesting in a popular tourist spot in Dorset.

National Trust say 2020 is likely to be one of the three warmest years on record, with a mild winter with very little snow, a long dry spring followed by the sunniest and driest May on record created the perfect conditions for some species to thrive, particularly certain species of birds, butterflies and moths.

Fewer people during the peak breeding season of spring has seen wildlife move in and plants thrive in locations that would ordinarily be considered tourist hotspots, especially in Dorset.

This unintended consequence resulted in previously rare sightings of animals, including peregrine falcons nesting in the ancient ruins of Corfe Castle in East Dorset.

In West Dorset, butterflies such as marsh fritillary were not recorded at the chalk hillforts this year but Wood White expanded its territory further east near Charmouth.

Dorset Echo:

Warm winds from the continent brought record numbers of migrant moths in the summer and early autumn.

The Clifden nonpareil, one of the UK’s largest moth species, became extinct in Britain in the 1960s but has returned to southern England. Calke Abbey in Derbyshire and Ware Cliffs in West Dorset reported their first sightings.

The unconventional weather this year also impacted wild flowers across Dorset.

Due to a long, dry period in May and June, marsh-orchids and autumn ladies tresses failed to put on their floral displays at Golden Cap but green winged orchids flowered in their thousands.

Early spider orchids had a good year at nearby Purbeck where the dry conditions impacted the grass, and the meadows flowered in abundance with carpets of pink stork’s-bills.

Ben McCarthy, Head of Conservation and Restoration Ecology at the National Trust said: “We might have been confined to home for much of the year, but terns, some of our most travelled seabirds carried on with their breath-taking journeys around the globe to reach us.

“We look after some of the largest colonies of these graceful seabirds, but all our breeding terns are in trouble.

“Little terns have been declining since the 1980s, and despite last year’s successful breeding at Long Nanny it was heart-breaking to see so many nests washed away by summer storms.

“With sea levels rising the area available for terns to nest on is being squeezed. When several years of summer storms are thrown in, the terns cannot raise enough chicks to keep the population going.

“The contrast in fortunes between the different colonies shows how important it is to look after all their breeding sites.

“We need visitors’ help in looking after terns by keeping away from sensitive areas during the breeding season and letting the terns nest undisturbed. As we expect summer storms to become more frequent due to climate change, our terns need all the help they can get.”