As it turned out, that little egret was a trailblazer for a host of other herons to cross the Channel and establish themselves as British breeding birds. Yet as the RSPB report notes, there are major downsides to climate change. Numbers of several species clinging on as British breeding birds are falling rapidly. Photograph: RexOne of the biggest issues facing both migrants and breeding birds is what scientists call “asynchronous response”. Nor does it make up for the potential disappearance of other classic Scottish species, such as the common scoter and black-throated diver.

Source: The Guardian December 10, 2017 00:00 UTC