Tag: climate change

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The end of the summer

Nowhere Wood has a weary silence, as the heat stifles its life. It is ready with its autumn plans, which cannot start until it rains. 

Rain, the life-giver. Yet in flood, rain is the also the destroyer. It is a question of balance. Is the balance changing in the wood? Is the balance changing in the world? This has been the hottest summer the wood has ever known. People across the world are saying the same things. 

Fern leaves wilting in the summer heat in Nowhere Wood
Fern leaves wilting in the summer heat in Nowhere Wood. [Photograph: Neil Ingram]

Even the fern leaves are wilting for want of water. Holly trees have deeper roots, but they are suffering, too. The soil in the wood is very thin, because it used to be a stone quarry, and the roots cannot grow deep enough to find water.

Holly leaves wilting in the summer heat in Nowhere Wood.
Holly leaves wilting in the summer heat in Nowhere Wood. [Photograph: Neil Ingram]

Then, the remains of a hurricane in the Caribbean barrels westwards, bringing with it strong westerly winds, which blow the summer away in a moment.

The first autumn rain falls in Trendlewood Park.
The first autumn rain falls in Trendlewood Park. [Photograph: Neil Ingram]

The rain falls, gently at first, then much stronger. The smell of the wood changes as the plants take up the water and everything seems to relax.

Droplets of rain on a leaf of a snowberry plant
Droplets of rain on a leaf of a snowberry plant in Nowhere Wood. [Photograph: Neil Ingram]

Nowhere Wood is lucky. Somalia in East Africa it has not had any significant rain for two years and a quarter of the population faces “crisis-level food insecurity” (near-starvation). Yet, in 2023, October floods killed hundreds of people and washed away thousands of homes. The harvest was ruined, leading towards more famine.

It is the unpredictability of the weather that causes most concern. Farmers sow their seeds not knowing whether it will produce enough food. And that is now the same everywhere across the world, including Great Britain. Time will tell what will happen in the future. 

Meanwhile Nowhere Wood celebrates the arrival of the rain in autumn as the fruit ripens and the wood moves forward into the next stage of its adventure.

Apples ripening in the rain in the orchard in Trendlewood Park.
Apples ripening in the rain in the orchard in Trendlewood Park. [Photograph: Neil Ingram]

1. Imagine that the autumn rains did not come. What would happen to Nowhere Wood?

 

Notes on the story

Climate Change and the Weather

 

 

Update: 

A few days alter, after real rain, the fern has recovered and perked up. 

After a few days rain, the fern recovers.
After a few days rain, the fern recovers. [Photograph: Neil Ingram]
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A tale of two butterflies

It is a sunny afternoon in May and two butterflies are flying round each other in a shaft of sunlight. The smaller one chases the larger one away.

I first thought they were a courting pair, but then realised they are different types. Where do they come from and what are they doing in the sunshine?

Specked wood butterfly in Nowhere Wood, May 2025
Specked wood butterfly in Nowhere Wood, May 2025. [Photograph: Neil Ingram]
The chasing butterfly is a specked wood, seen  resting on an ivy leaf,  keen to be photographed. It is a true native of Nowhere. It started life as an egg laid during the previous autumn, perhaps on some of the long grass that skirts the wood. It probably emerged a few days ago, and has taken to flying in the same shaft of sunlight.

It is warm and bright in the sunlight and both males and females are attracted to the same spot. No wonder our male wants to chase rivals and other butterflies away!

The unfortunate butterfly to be caught up in this tussle was a red admiral. It was harder to photograph against the floor of the woodland.

Red admiral butterfly, Nowhere Wood, May 2025
Red admiral butterfly, Nowhere Wood, May 2025. [Photograph: Neil Ingram]
This butterfly was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.

The red admiral butterfly is a summer visitor to the wood, with large numbers arriving in the UK  from southern Europe and North Africa each year. They love to feed on flowers that produce a lot of nectar, so are often found in the gardens that surround the wood.

They will breed whilst they are living in the wood, and some of these new butterflies will try to fly back to Europe in the autumn. It is not clear how many of them will survive the long journey.

Others will try to survive the winter in the UK. In the past, most of these have died because of the cold, but warmer winters mean that more of them are surviving to breed in the spring.

We could be seeing a shift in their behaviour because of climate change, that could lead them to being permanent residents in the wood.

Update:

Two days later, the speckled wood was still patrolling the same patch of sunlight. Let’s hope he gets lucky soon!

A male speckled wood butterfly was found in the same spot two days later.
The male speckled wood butterfly was found in the same spot two days later. [Photograph: Neil Ingram]

  1. In Southern Europe and North Africa, red admiral butterflies can breed continuously throughout the year. Why is important in the survival of the red admiral species?
  2. Why is it an advantage for the specked wood to defend a territory in Nowhere Wood?

 

 

Notes on the story

Being and becoming in Nowhere Wood

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Climate change and the air

The air is all round us and is a mixture of many different gases. 78% of the air is made of nitrogen, which  is the most common gas. This story is about two other gases found in the air – oxygen and carbon dioxide.

 

 

girl breathing out carbon dioxide and breathing in oxygen
The girl breathes out carbon dioxide and breathes in oxygen

We breathe in oxygen and use it to release energy from sugar. At the same time we make carbon dioxide – all living organisms do the same. We all  do this to stay alive.

People  also make carbon dioxide when we burn fuels, such as coal, oil, petrol and wood.

Nailsea was once a very small village. [Image from Nailsea Town.com]

If we go back over three hundred years to the 1700’s, Nailsea was a a tiny village surrounded by farms. Few people lived there, then. People burned wood or peat (from the moors) to stay warm.  They walked everywhere or travelled horse and cart.

Carbon dioxide in the air is measured in units called ‘parts per million’. Scientists  have estimated that in the early 1700’s the carbon dioxide in the air was about 280 parts per million.

An artist’s reconstruction of Middle Engine Pit, Nailsea. Artwork by Mark Hornby. From https://www.nailseatown.com/heritage-trail/middle-engine-pit/

However, things were beginning to change in Nailsea: the first coalmine was opened in 1700 and this would transform the village into a town in the next ninety years. The mines employed experienced miners who came to live in the town as well as local farmworkers.

 

Oil on canvas of The Old Glass Works, Nailsea in about 1810
This painting shows an appoach to Nailsea from the North. The cone of the glassworks is shown. Nailsea is changing from countryside into a town.
[Bristol City Museum and Art Gallery. Attributed to the British School.]

Plenty of cheap coal led to the opening of the glass factory and more migration of people into the town.  The arrival of the railway in 1841 provided new opportunities to trade with Bristol and its ports. The steam trains were powerful and burned coal.

In Nailsea, new houses were built together with  new roads and shops. Trendlewood quarry was opened in 1850 to provide sandstone tiles for the roofs of the new houses.

 

All of this activity added carbon dioxide to the air in increasing amounts.  Trees can take carbon dioxide out of the air, but the local woods were gradually chopped down to make way for the new town and for farmland. The wood was burned as fuel.

This pattern of industrialisation has taken place everywhere, all over the world since then. It continues to do so, too. In 2024, the amount of carbon dioxide in the air is estimated at 423 parts per million. This is a rise of 51% since the 1700s.

Does all of this matter? Most scientists think it matters a lot, but some politicians want to disagree.

a diagram of the greenhouse effect
The diagram shows the rays of the Sum being trapped in the atmosphere of the Earth by a layer of carbon dioxide

Carbon dioxide in the air acts like a blanket, reflecting heat energy back towards the land and the sea. In this way, it acts like glass in a greenhouse. The warming caused by the increased carbon dioxide is sometimes called “the greenhouse effect”.

Increased levels of carbon dioxide in the air affects the climate and weather patterns across the world, as we shall see in the next story.

Do you think that the businessmen of the 1700s were aware that the burning of coal could affect the climate of the Earth?

If were are aware of this now, should this affect whether  we choose to burn coal and oil.

What do you think?

 

Notes on the story

Climate change and the weather

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Climate change and the weather

Most scientists think that the Earth is getting warmer and that human activities are making it worse. This story looks at some of the evidence they use.

Weather super computer
A weather super computer at National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration [Image credit: General Dynamics Information Technology (GDIT)]

Weather experts collect millions of temperature measurements from all around the world every day. They put these results into powerful computers that build a picture of the climate across the world every day. Their results suggest that 2024 was the hottest year ever recorded.

The average October temperatures for the surface of the Earth from 1940 to 2020.
The average October temperatures for the surface of the Earth from 1940 to 2020. The warmest temperatures have been in the last ten years.

The temperature of the Earth in 2024 is about 1.5°C higher than it was in 1880, before large factories, cars, and airplanes existed. The yearly temperatures since 2020 include three of the hottest years since we started recording temperatures.

A 1.5°C rise in temperature does not sound like much, but it is having a big effect on the weather around the world.

Hurricane Beryl over Jamaca. July 2024.
There has been an increase in the number and severity of tropical storms in recent years. [Photograph from: https://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/world/2024/07/03/7-dead-as-hurricane-beryl-barrels-towards-jamaica/]

The temperature of the water in the seas in 2024 was the hottest ever. This causes the wind speeds to increase in tropical storms, causing huge damage when they hit coastal towns. 

Warm air can hold more water than colder air, so rainstorms can be more powerful and last longer. Flooding in low-lying areas becomes more common.

Flooding in Monmouth town centre. 1990.
Flooding in Monmouth town centre, 1990. The number and severity of such weather events is increasing. [Image: https://www.flickr.com/photos/imagined_horizons/9637969736]

The level of the sea in 2024 is about 111 mm higher than it was in 1993. This increases the risk of flooding in coastal areas.

 

Rising sea levels are affecting the survival of many islands.
Rising sea levels are affecting the survival of many islands. [Photograph credit: Envato Elements pic, https://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/leisure/2022/02/24/present-day-rise-in-sea-levels-may-have-begun-in-1863/]

Some small islands in the ocean are at risk of disappearing due to the rising sea waters. Nyangai Island off the coast of Sierra Leone has almost been lost to the waves.

 

Polar bears are finding it harder to hunt because of melting summer ice in the Arctic.
Polar bears are finding it harder to hunt because of melting summer ice in the Arctic. [Photograph: https://www.flickr.com/photos/gsfc/29664357826]

The rising sea levels are being made worse by the melting of the ice in the Arctic and Antarctic. Summer ice in the Arctic is disappearing by about 12% every ten years. It is affecting the survival of polar bears.

 

 

 

Notes on the story

Climate change: what can we do about it?

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Climate change and new arrivals

Some animals and plants can’t live in Nowhere Wood because it’s too cold or too wet for them. But the climate has warmed by about 1°C since the 1970s. This small change has allowed new species to come and live in the wood because the climate now suits them better.

Rosel's bush cricket
A pair of Rosel’s bush crickets were found on Golden Vallety field in 2019. [Photograph: Andrew Town]
In 2019, a pair of Roesel’s bush crickets were found in Golden Valley field. They seem to have bred successfully. The warmer climate has helped them find more places to live. They are moving northwards from the South of England and have migrated more than 50 miles over the past 20 years.

 

 

Downland Villa bee fly
This Downland Villa bee fly looks like a bee, but it is actually a fly. [Photograph: Andrew Town]
The Downland Villa bee fly was first seen in Sussex in 2016 and has been moving northwards, probably because of the warmer climate. These flies look like solitary bees, which are bees that do not live in hives or colonies. The bee fly feeds on solitary bees by dropping their eggs into the bees’ nest, where they hatch and eat the bee larvae.

Scientists think there may be over fifty species of animals arriving in the UK because of climate change, although most of them have not yet arrived in Nowhere Wood!

  1. Crickets eat grass. Do you think the arrival of the Roesel’s bush crickets will harm or help the wild life that live on Golden Valley fields?
  2. Roesel’s bush crickets seem to have bred successfully on Golden Valley. What does this mean? How will this help the survival of the crickets in the area?
  3. How might the arrival of the Downland Villa bee fly affect the solitary bees in Nowhere Wood?

Update, 7/5/25: New bee arrival!

Orchard bee
Orchard bee. [Photograph: USGS Bee watch]
The orchard bee is a solitary bee that is spreading rapidly in the south of England, which was once too cold for it. It won’t be long before it reaches Nowhere Wood! Read more here.

 

 

Notes on the story

Climate change and the leavers

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Climate change and the leavers

Rams horn gall oak wasp
The ram’s horn gall oak wasp was first found in Berkshire in 1997. It is now quite common in the Park [Photograph – Andrew Town].

We can spot new arrivals in Nowhere Wood, if we have time and patience. Anyone can do this if they walk through the wood often, thinking about what they see. It is much harder to notice species that disappear because the changing climate does not suit them. Species come and go from the wood all of the time.

 

So how do we know which species have left permanently because of climate change?

News article about declining number of insects
This news article from the Natural History Museum is about declining number of insects. From: https://www.nhm.ac.uk/

One way is to combine our observations of Nowhere Wood with observations from other woods across the country. This helps us to see the ‘bigger picture’.

When we do this, we can see that we do have a problem: London’s Natural History Museum reports that “UK’s flying insects have declined by 60% in 20 years”.

 

Three reasons are given for this fall in numbers,  rising temperatures caused by climate change,  loss of suitable habitats and the use of harmful chemicals as pesticides.

The hairy-footed flower bee, pollinating a lungwort flower
The hairy-footed flower bee, pollinating a lungwort flower [Photograph – Andrew Town].

Losing insects could have serious effects on Nowhere Wood and the surrounding farmlands. Bees are insects that are suffering this fall in numbers. They help to pollinate many crops, including the apple trees in the orchards.

 

 

Many insects are food for birds and other animals. A loss of insects could lead to a reduction in the number of these animal, too.

  1. Bee hotels are sometimes used as a way to help encourage solitary bees to breed and survive. Learn how to do this here.
  2. Imagine what a world would look like without insects.  Does it matter if we lose our insects?

 

 

Notes on the story

Climate change and the weather

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Climate change: what can we do about it?

The average global temperature is now two degrees warmer than it was in the 1700s.
The average global temperature is now two degrees warmer than it was in the 1700s. [Image generated by AI]

The climate of the whole world  is changing because of the rising temperatures. Scientists think that  increasing levels of carbon dioxide gas in the air are  making these changes worse.

The Earth is now an average of two degrees warmer than it was in the 1700s, before the start of the industrial revolution.

We should try to do two things: to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide in the air and to try to look after and encourage the wildlife in our local areas.

Wind energy is renewable and helps to reduce global warming
Wind energy is renewable and helps to reduce global warming. [Image from https://www.peterduffyltd.com/old-whittington-wind-turbine-generator/]

Burning fuels, such as coal, petrol, gas and oil are the main ways that we add carbon dioxide to the air. As a country we are aiming to increase the amount of energy we produce from “renewable ” sources of energy that do produce carbon dioxide. Last year 45% of the UK’s energy was produced from such sources, which include wind, solar, hydroelectric and nuclear power.

We can think about switching from petrol to electric cars and to insulate our homes better to reduce the heat we lose to the air. We use less electricity and gas and save money at the same time!

 

Food and drink cans inside a recycling bin.
We can recycle our food and drink cans [Photograph: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Food_and_drink_cans_in_recycling_bin.jpg, creative commons licence]

We can recycle our waste, so it gets reused and this reduces the amount of energy needed to produce new goods. Reducing aluminium food trays, cans and foil can save about 95% of the energy needed to replace these products from raw materials.

 

We can grow more plants and grow more trees. Plants are very good at removing carbon dioxide from the air. Scientists are trying to restore lost habitats like forests, wetlands and marshes, that are very good at removing carbon dioxide from the air. This is called ‘rewilding’.

The Meadows next to Nowhere Wood is a rewilding project.

A bee hotel for sale in a local supermarket
A bee hotel for sale in a local supermarket. [Photograph: Neil Ingram]

We can encourage the wildlife in our gardens, parks and school grounds. Bird and bat boxes and bee hotels can provide places where birds, bats and solitary bees can live safely.

one candle does not produce much light, but many candles can make a bright light.
One candle on its own does not produce much light, but many candles can make a bright light. [Image: Neil Ingram and Google Gemini AI]

 

 

Solving the problem of climate change is difficult and needs all of us to work together to make it happen. Every person can make a small difference, but these differences add together to make a big change.

 

 

Notes on the story

A tribute to fallen trees