NATURAL DISASTER

As yet another extreme weather event causes chaos across the country, experts demand urgent action as climate change wreaks havoc on Scotland's nature

- DAN VEVERS

THE chaos that climate change is wreaking on Scotland's nature must be a catalyst for urgent action, the nation's top experts have urged.

Wildlife agency NatureScot warned of "long-term declines" in critically endangered "priority species like the Scottish wildcat and Atlantic salmon.

A study published yesterday by the National Trust found rising temperatures, changing seasons and unpredictable weather are causing havoc across Britain's natural world.

It comes after an exceptionally hot and dry spell through May and June brought near-drought conditions across Scotland from Loch Ness to the Black Isle after an unusually dry winter and spring.

May also saw one of the biggest wildfires in British history as a blaze ripped through six square miles of land around Cannich in the Highlands.

That was followed in the autumn by intense rain and flooding such as from Storm Babet, which battered the east coast and nature hotspots and caused half a dozen landslides.

In its annual review, the National Trust said as well as extreme weather, changes in the seasons were disrupting the rhythm of nature.

They've impacted hibernatory animals like dormice and also trees and plants, while allowing pests and disease to thrive. The changes are also causing red deer to rut later in the year, resulting in calves being born in the summer instead of spring - so they lose time to grow and put on fat for the winter.

Ben McCarthy, head of nature at the National Trust, said: "The shifting weather patterns we're seeing in the UK, particularly with the warmer temperatures we're experiencing, is continuing to upset the natural, regular rhythm of the seasons, causing stress to wildlife.