National Trust properties are at risk from severe weather.

Storms and floods have damaged Britain’s most valuable heritage sites, according to the National Trust.

It says severe weather is damaging the properties it manages in England and Wales, with many mature trees downed and flooding damaging buildings and gardens.

Hot, wet conditions have prevailed this year and caused problems, the trust says in its annual roundup of how the weather and climate has affected its vast land and property holdings.

He says the increasing “synchrony” is blurring the distinction between seasons, which can be difficult for many insect species and the predators that depend on them.

In January, Avebury Manor, a Tudor manor house in Wiltshire, was flooded for the first time in 300 years, after a series of storms hit the country. It was one of several properties that suffered damage from Hurricane Isha and Jocelyn after Hurricane Hank.

Many of the Trust’s properties are not designed to withstand such high wind and rain storms. Some buildings still have ancient drain pipes and guttering – often a key design feature – that can overflow in heavy rain, sometimes damaging interiors and exteriors.

April was cool and wet which meant that many flowering plants, including bluebells, flowered later than usual – such as Walkwood in Sheffield Park and these fine examples in Gardens in East Sussex.

Many home gardens will also have seen plants bloom a little late, but most should have done well once that was gone, with the help of plenty of moisture that kept many plants going strong.

The erratic spring weather affected some wildlife species, including the rare Adonis blue butterfly. The charity The Butterfly Trust says just 333 examples of the dramatic creature have been recorded in an area of ​​West Dorset that is a hotbed for the species – up from 1,459 in 2023.

Many species of bees, wasps and insects were also recorded in very small numbers.

“Our unpredictable weather is causing confusion for our wildlife and the slow loss of what was once ‘predictable’ weather,” said Keith Jones, Climate Change Adviser at the National Trust. “

The rainy season helped rewet peatland ecosystems across the country after two years of extremely dry weather in 2022 and 2023. Rare dragonflies have been spotted at various bogland ecosystems, including this female dragonfly at Wicken Fen in Cambridgeshire.

Many trees also benefited. Young plants need moisture to build strong root systems, and the wet season also relieved stress in some older trees that suffered during the dry season.

There was more good news on the Suffolk coast. Rangers at Orford Ness National Nature Reserve have announced the establishment of the county’s first gray seal colony. The seals are believed to have established a home on the secluded beach at Orford Ness because of the reduced risk of disturbance, and because the developing beach colonies at Blakeney and Horsey Gap have become crowded.

The continued warm weather means autumn has arrived late this year, but it has produced an explosion of color with some stunning displays ranging from gold to russet red, such as here at Wallington Estate in Northumberland. .

The lack of frost and wet soil meant many trees kept their leaves well into November, a month longer than usual. But the autumn displays came to an abrupt end in the second half of the month when a cold snap following Storm Brit stripped the trees of their leaves in just a few days.

A mild and wet autumn was ideal for many species of fungi. Gardeners may have noticed that other moisture-loving creatures — including slugs and snails — also thrive. Pictured above, a leopard slug eats false deathcap mushrooms on the Blickling estate in Norfolk.

These past few weeks have seen even more changeable weather with temperatures seeing temperatures go from freezing to balmy in a matter of days. The camels were unveiled at Glendargan Gardens in Cornwall on November 20.