germany - impacts on fauna and habitat in bremen
The sound is like a drum roll! When I go rambling through the landscape, I can hear the distinctive sound of woodpeckers. Yet this is rather unusual in January and makes me feel somewhat uncomfortable. I hear blackbirds and tits telling me that spring is already here. There are starlings gathering out there in the fields. Shouldn’t they have already left for the South? This year they didn’t migrate at all but stayed in Germany all winter.
The winter of 2006/7 was unusually warm - totally different from the average winter. I can’t remember any January like it. As the temperatures get warmer, the fauna changes its habits. Some migratory birds do not leave for the winter any more – and those that do, come back earlier. This is true for pewits, black-tailed godwits and white storks, amongst others. Frogs are paddocks are also spawning much earlier. And plants are budding and infolding their leaves and blooms much earlier than usual.
None of this should perhaps concern us unduly, as most animals and plants react to the impacts of climate change in ways that do not affect humans. But what about species that can seriously harm us, such as ticks? They are already becoming more common in Germany. And how soon should we expect to see the arrival of the anopheles gnat that carries the malaria virus?
In some ways, I enjoy these winter walks when I discover so much more than I would on an ordinary winter’s day. Yet, at the same time, I can’t help feeling a real sense of concern for what is happening.
Dr. Jörn Hildebrandt, biologist and science journalist
