Climate change: local manifestations

[evilC]

This is a thread for people to mention the small changes they've noticed in their local environment over the last few years (or decades) that could well be linked to larger, global changes.

It will, no doubt, also become the thread where other people will take the piss out of those doing the 'noticing' for being paranoid or something.

For my part:

The place I work in backs on to a large, attractive, grassy bank that slopes upwards away from me. It is topped by a hedge (beyond which is a smallish car park) and bounded by a couple of copses to either side. The wildlife that would always appear on this bank are actually a real 'perk of the job' for me. Y'know - seeing the small fluffy animals thereupon would lift one's spirits somewhat. Now, over the last few years my sightings of rabbits casually munching away on this bank - particularly in Spring - have dropped from 'constant' to 'almost non-existent'. I've seen one rabbit there this year, in fact. There would also be deer traversing this bank, between the copses, on a regular basis - at least once a week. Again, I've only seen them once this year.

I think alot of it may be down to the fact that the hedge at the top of this bank seems to be slowly thinning out. I wasn't sure if I was imagining this at first, but it's definitely happening: you can now clearly see the cars in the car park (of the neighboring police headquarters) behind the hedge quite clearly, when 3 years ago you couldn't be sure if the cars and buildings were there at all. Whatever the cause of it is, it seems to be having a definite effect on the wildlife here. It's only a small, gradual change, but it definitely seems to be happening.

There are other, more obvious things I could mention, like the disappearance of starlings from our skies and gardens, but I think these are already widely noted.

Anyone else?

[JtS]

Climate change: local manifestations

There's loads of squirrels in the trees where our place is. Recently I saw one which had a tail like a rat. It may be a rat, or a rat/squirrel. A Rirrel or a Squat if you will.

[Anton Gramscescu]

Climate change: local manifestations

It will, no doubt, also become the thread where other people will take the piss out of those doing the 'noticing' for being paranoid or something.

Um...well, it could also be a thread for people who wish to point out how difficult it is to convincingly link local phenomena to global ones.

What's the link between global climate change and your hedge thinning, exactly?

[JtS]

Climate change: local manifestations

People less likely to want to buy fertilizers therefore plants suffer?

[EIM]

Climate change: local manifestations

I've got me window open, and I didn't yesterday.

[evilC]

Climate change: local manifestations

AG:

What's the link between global climate change and your hedge thinning, exactly?

Change.

Your apparent scepticism implies that you believe that only global phenomena occur - that if localised phenomena occur, because it is 'difficult' to link them to global ones, they aren't real.

Surely, all phenomena are local until their effects are noted, data pooled and patterns recognised? Then - bingo! A global phenomenon!

[Eggchaser]

Climate change: local manifestations

We need SSS and his "anecdotal" comeback. That always pissed me right off.

[Anton Gramscescu]

Climate change: local manifestations

Surely, all phenomena are local until their effects are noted, data pooled and patterns recognised? Then - bingo! A global phenomenon!

Or several global phenomena. Or unrelated global and local phenomena occuring simultaneously.

My scepticism merely implies that there a host of possible reasons your hedge is thinning, and global climate change isn't the most obvious one.

[evilC]

Climate change: local manifestations

But - if everyone is scorned into keeping their mouths shut about what they might be witnessing, how is anyone to decide what is a local phenomenon and what is a global one?

The kind of thing I'm really wanting to do is almost 'collate' anecdotal evidence to make it more than anecdotal. A few years back, the diaries of some farm worker from about five or six centuries ago were discovered. In the entries, in passing, he happened to mention the weather at the time and the effect it was (he guessed) having on the crops. Current meteorological experts were, however, able to relate his mentioned experience directly to some larger weather event that was caused by a volcano erupting on the other side of the globe. By commenting on what he was seeing, a scientific theory about an event was proved 'at ground level'.

Now, I'm not suggesting that our experiences will have that kind of importance, historically-speaking, but unless we mention them, how are we to know?

[JtS]

Climate change: local manifestations

I don't think your seeing less rabbits is a global phenomenon

[Gangster Octopus]

Climate change: local manifestations

fewer

[Anton Gramscescu]

Climate change: local manifestations

But - if everyone is scorned into keeping their mouths shut about what they might be witnessing, how is anyone to decide what is a local phenomenon and what is a global one?

Fair point, but your thread title and opening post suggest that you've *already* decided there's a link in this case. The best you've been able to offer as proof of this is that the phenomena of global climate change and local foliage change are happening at the same time. And all I'm saying is that correlation is not causation.

[Guest]

Climate change: local manifestations

What about the lack of snow in the winter, or the fact that shrubs seem to be trying to put their spring buds out in December?

[Anton Gramscescu]

Climate change: local manifestations

Those have fewer alternative explanations than the thinning hedge, that's for sure.

[evilC]

Climate change: local manifestations

But they were precisely what I'm meaning. I didn't want to try to present a near-exhaustive list straight off the bat, as I wanted others to contribute. I also didn't want to influence others with what I mentioned, so I deliberately kept it to my most 'personal' (i.e. anecdotal) account.

I'm kind of hoping that others might get anecdotal, too, as it might be that several of us have noticed similar things, but haven't wanted to mention these like happenings, as they might have previously thought they were just isolated occurrences.

[Anton Gramscescu]

Climate change: local manifestations

I get it, but if you start off by declaring that your thinning hedge must be related to global warming, then it doesn't look like you're searching disinterestedly for evidence of a phenomenon, it looks like you've already decided on a conclusion and you'd like some anecdotes to back it up and you're not fussy about the evidence used to link one to the other.

Maybe if you had put a question mark on the thread title...

Still, you want anecdotes? Here's mine: Toronto had the second-heaviest snowfall on record this winter. It was so bad that London in April seemed like Heaven to me.

[caja-dglh]

Climate change: local manifestations

Isn't this alternatively titled the "getting old thread"?

I have noticed that pop music is getting rubbish. Hopefully this is a climate function.

[Guest]

Climate change: local manifestations

When I was a girl we used to get proper snow in the winter in southeast london. I remember making snowballs bigger than me, etc. Even in about 1992 I remember a decent snowfall at a sensible time of year.

Snow in April is not new, but it being the only snow is.

Also when I was a girl we used to see stag beetles all the time, especially round the woods in Sydenham. I would say apart from the one that I saw a year or so ago near my house it would maybe be 10 years since I've seen one.

[EIM]

Climate change: local manifestations

I can't drink from a cup of tea without going "AAAAAAHHH" or stand up without going "Goooooorrghhh"

[evilC]

Climate change: local manifestations

(I would have made the thread title longer, but the character limit is a real pain for succinct-yet-accurate headings. I decided to go for one that was generalistic, but kind of described the subject.)

[JtS]

Climate change: local manifestations

Apparently the weather in April was as average as it's ever been or something.

[Moonlight Shadow]

Climate change: local manifestations

I witnessed a redundant evolutive trait on one of my hikes in the Peak District. I was walking down a desolate moor when I disturbed a couple of hares in their winter coating. The poor buggers were so easy to spot, all white in a brown/green emptiness and those days they probably have a dozen days a year when their coating will be mimetic enough.

Meteorology wise, January seems to be a complete write-off of a winter month, constantly above average temperature wise, even this last few months when monthly average temperatures have been average or below since July...

[linus]

Climate change: local manifestations

I'm not sure about global warming being the reason for the hedges getting thinner, but it's definitely the reason for my hairline getting thinner.

Seriously though, the main reason for the observed decline in bird populations appears to be...cats.

http://www.owra.org/cateffect.htm

Cats are having very adverse effects on wildlife in populated rural areas, especially birds, whose nests and fledglings are very vulnerable to their superb predatory skills and their compulsive hunting habits. If you own a cat near green areas and care about the wildlife, be careful about letting it roam.

[Guest]

Climate change: local manifestations

I've only seen one swallow so far this year. That was in Stromeferry, in the north-west. Haven't seen any (or swifts, either) elsewhere on my travels.