Wildlife will suffer if the current drought conditions in the southern and eastern parts of England continue into spring, some experts fear. So which animals and plants will be hit hardest if there is no significant rainfall in the next two months?
"It's this time of year when the weather starts warming up and frogs start breeding - but they haven't been breeding," says John Wilkinson, research and monitoring officer at the Amphibian and Reptile Conservation Trust (ARC).
"Toads have been seen out and about, but there are no reports yet of toads breeding either."
Amphibians are just one of the groups of animals that nature observers fear may have problems reproducing this year, as groundwater levels are even lower now than in the infamously dry summer of 1976, according to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra).
According to the UK's Centre for Hydrology and Ecology the average rainfall so far this winter has been the lowest since 1972.
"If ponds dry up totally," says Mr Wilkinson, "you could have lots of dead tadpoles." Drier and windier conditions could also make it more difficult for juvenile amphibians to survive their journeys between wet habitats.
Read on: http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/17130206
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