The cold gave the worst ever häckningsår – Dagens Industri

The cold gave the worst ever häckningsår

                  2015-08-12 04:29
             

The wet and cool spring and early summer have made it difficult for blue tits, great tits, ospreys and other birds to raise their young.

It is arguably one of the worst breeding years we have had since we started coordinating the observations in the 1960s, says Anders Wirdheim, spokeswoman for the Swedish Ornithological Society, told Dagens Nyheter.

The birds have needed more food to get by in the cool weather, while the lack of heat meant that there have been far fewer insects to feed on.

However, the nesting of raptors and owls in northern Sweden has gone well. The reason is that there was plenty of food, such as lemmings and other small rodents.

A single bad häckningsår have no major impact on nature at large. This requires several bad years in a row.