Pair of egrets take to wet weather

ACCORDING to the Meteorological Service, average temperatures here rose by three quarters of a degree in the last 20 years.

Our part of the world is getting warmer and wetter. For most wild creatures, this is not good news. Some, however, will benefit from the trend.

Egrets, for example, seem enthusiastic about climate change. At any rate, two species have moved northwards and westwards in recent years. Now a third member of the tribe may be doing the same; it has just been announced that the great white egret has bred for the first time in Britain. The nest is at Shapwick Heath, a Natural England reserve in Somerset.