The Wildlife Trusts has published its new assessment of the effects of climate change on nature across the UK. The report, Resilient Nature, shows how much-loved species and habitats are faring across The Wildlife Trusts’ 2,600 nature reserves in response to the changing climate and extreme weather over the past year.

Whilst summer’s headlines were dominated by heatwaves and drought, the report reveals that over the past 12 months it has been extreme changes in weather patterns that have been the most damaging overall, with the natural world bearing much of the brunt.

Key findings include:
Drought and heat extremes have caused important wildlife habitats, such as woodlands and wetlands, to dry out completely on Yorkshire Wildlife Trust nature reserves.
Reserves like Askham Bog and Kilnsea Wetlands have dried out entirely, spelling disaster for wetland wildlife like newts and wading birds.
Chalk streams on reserves like Skerne Wetlands have reduced to a trickle, impacting our endangered water vole populations, and woodland reserves like Moorlands have seen limb drop and early autumn canopies to cope with the hot weather.
High fire risk has also imperilled precious landscapes, including the significant fire at Fylingdales in the North York Moors earlier this month and at Strensall Common earlier this year.

Yorkshire’s wildlife is feeling the pressure again after the driest spring and summer in hundreds of years followed by periods of extremely changeable wet weather. The unpredictability of our weather over the past few years has given wildlife far less opportunity to bounce back from periods of more extreme weather.

It will take months for our chalk streams and wetland reserves to replenish – and it may be years before the full impact of this drought is realised for our wildlife. We are calling on planning authorities and organisations to ensure policies are robust to address the impact of our changing climate, and to work with the nature and systems responsible for health and economy.

Askham Bog, usual water levels Photo: Yorkshire Wildlife Trust © Amy Cooper

Askham Bog dried up 2025 Photo: Yorkshire Wildlife Trust © Dave Powell

Low water levels in Yorkshire’s chalk streams and rivers has led to dropping oxygen levels, causing algal blooms and very high nutrient levels that cause problems for fish, and a lack of space for wildlife like newts and water voles to survive. Elsewhere, wetland habitats have dried out entirely – meaning waders have nowhere to hunt for food, and rare wetland plants have shrivelled and died. Wildlife is particularly vulnerable to fire risk, with ground-nesting birds, small mammals and reptiles all easily trapped by fire like we’ve seen on the North York Moors.

The latest UK State of Climate report made clear that this weather chaos – with more frequent record temperatures, drought, fire and flooding – is now the norm. Yorkshire Wildlife Trust is hard at work safeguarding the natural world from the worst of climate extremes. Examples include:

The Trust is involved in or spearheads river restoration projects across a large number of Yorkshire’s rivers, including the Esk, Hull, Swale, Derwent, Aire, Calder, Tutt, Wiske and Foss, improving habitat quality and helping with flood resilience. In 2024, this included re-naturalising around one kilometre of Otterburn Beck to create 3.7 hectares of enhanced wetland, as well as restoring ponds and creating new wetland along the Swale.

Restoring habitats vital for mitigating the impacts of climate change, including Atlantic rainforest at Park Gill in the Yorkshire Dales, and a suite of significant wetland nature reserves including Potteric Carr in Doncaster, North Cave Wetlands near Hull and Ripon City Wetlands near Ripon.

Supporting our marine environment through extensive campaigning as part of the North Seas Wildlife Trusts. Through a partnership between Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust and Ørsted, the Trust is also spearheading the Wilder Humber project is carrying out sand dune, saltmarsh, seagrass and native oyster restoration.

​Our new report reveals that climate change is accelerating at a frightening pace, with worrying impacts on wildlife and nature reserves – as well as on human health and our future resilience as an economy. Yet while Wildlife Trust staff and volunteers across the UK race to adapt the way that we care for our land, Government action to address climate change is fast falling behind.

The events in southern Europe – where wildfires and floods have imperilled both people and wildlife – should sound the alarm loudly: we are shockingly underprepared for such extremes here in the UK. The UK Government must rapidly undertake a major overhaul of adaptation policy, with increased funding and coordination, in order to tackle this accelerating threat head on.

You can read Resilient Nature here.