Extreme weather becomes 'new normal' in UK as wildlife hit hard in 2025

The National Trust's annual review of nature in 2025 warned the latest in a run of recent drought years was putting "untold strain" on habitats.

This year was bookended by Storm Eowyn, which hit in January and toppled tens of thousands of trees across Northern Ireland.

Storm Claudia also struck in November, which triggered flood warnings across England and Wales, and Bram, and brought a month’s worth of rain on Dartmoor in just 48 hours.

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But the report did reveal some good news as butterflies rebounded from the disastrous wet spring and summer in 2024 and hazel dormice enjoyed the long warm season and fattened up on the mast year for fruit, berries and nuts.

The "defining" weather of 2025 was the warmest and sunniest spring on record, followed by a record hot summer and widespread drought, which saw streams and ponds dry up, rivers and reservoirs dwindle, and led to the UK's worst ever fire season.

Ben McCarthy, head of nature conservation at the National Trust, said: "Heat, drought and fire are the defining headlines of 2025.

"In just two years, we’ve lurched from a very wet period to record-breaking heat and dryness that put our countryside on red alert.

"Extremes in weather is nothing new, but it’s the compounded impact of several drought years in a short period – 2018, 2022 and now 2025 – which is putting untold strain on habitats and making life even more difficult for UK wildlife.

"These are alarm signals we cannot ignore, and we need to work faster, smarter and in a more joined-up way."

Keith Jones, national consultant on climate change, added: "These extremes – driest spring, hottest summer – are no longer rare events.

"They’re becoming the new normal, but practical action makes a difference."

One of the most damaging impacts of the hot, dry spring and summer was the outbreak of wildfires, which saw a record 47,000 hectares (116,000 acres) of land burn across the UK.

The dry conditions also left streams and ponds low, with breeding ponds for great crested newts drying up at Tattershall Castle, Lincolnshire and Formby’s natterjack toads producing no toadlets this year.

The drought was hard on trees too – the National Trust said it saw 40% losses in newly planted trees, compared to the 10-15% they would expect to see, while mature trees lost leaves early and dropped limbs.

Elsewhere, it was a mixed picture for wildlife, the charity said, with butterflies rebounding from 2024’s wet spring and summer, species such as barn owls and kestrels suffering where vole numbers crashed in parched grassland, and wildflower meadows struggling in drought-hit areas.

The warm spring and dry summer led to bumper fruit harvests, and a great year for pumpkins, in National Trust orchards and gardens, and prompted trees and hedgerows to produce a "mast year" of abundant crops that benefited wildlife from jays and deer to hazel dormice.

Mr McCarthy warned. more specialist species are in "steep decline" with protected sites too small and fragmented to help them.

He added: "But there is hope: where we’ve restored rivers, wetlands and peatlands, nature has shown remarkable resilience."