UKH

According to Rob Hume's excellent Birds of Great Britain and Europe book, Nuthatches aren't to be found in the north of the UK - the map cuts them off at Carlisle. However, here at 55.77 north I've been seeing them on our feeders for a couple of years. My copy of the book was published in 2002. Is this evidence (as if any were needed) that the climate is getting warmer?  Anyone else spotted wildlife that should be further south?  

As an aside, last night I saw a huge skein of geese heading north-west. Shouldn't they be heading in the other direction? Certainly doesn't feel like winter is over.  

Well I spotted some primroses flowering yesterday which is 2 months early. Also the grass here is green and not brown. But this is Torbay for you.

No. Brexit agreement

The best examples I know of are the Cumbrian bee eaters:

https://www.thewestmorlandgazette.co.uk/news/13572917.rare-birds-sighted-in...

I haven't seen a lot of nuthatches but I've seen them in C Scotland. The 1st time was over 30 years ago. 

Guess the book's wrong then. No surprise there

It could be a sign of the effects of climate change but species, particularly noticeable being birds, do spread.

It doesn't seem that long ago when Little Egrets were uncommon in the UK. Now they are regular breeders and here in the south east they are a fairly common sight and I know they have been seen in northern Scotland.

The geese you saw might have been going to roost. Many, if not all, roost on water - inland or a sheltered bay.

Dave

I never saw Nuthatches as a kid but we have four thatcome to our feeder now. Actually its three since we had a visit from a Sparrowhawk.😩

Fish are the key thing. Everyone is seeing species moving north. We get gilthead and white bream which we never used to (Mediterranean species), and we don't get dab & flounder (coldwater species) anymore.  Scotland and Norway have bass which they never used to.

According to an article I read yesterday, cod are moving north at 12km a year.

Hundreds of puffins are starving to death because of climate change | New Scientist 

"

Hundreds of “severely emaciated” puffin carcasses have washed ashore on an Alaskan island, and researchers believe thousands more have died at sea as warming waters continue to shrink their food supply.

Between October 2016 and January 2017, inhabitants of St Paul Island in the Bering sea found the starved bodies of more than 350 seabirds, primarily tufted puffins.

Analysing the location of bird carcasses and wind data, Timothy Jones at the University of Washington in Seattle and his colleagues estimated that between 3000 and 9000 birds died in total.

When they examined some of the bodies, they found no signs of infection or unsafe levels of toxins.

“Collected specimens were severely emaciated, suggesting starvation as the ultimate cause of mortality,” Jones wrote.

"

Read more: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2204764-hundreds-of-puffins-are-starvi..."