91Èȱ¬

Chris Packham shows viewers how changes in nature around us provide solid proof that climate change is already happening. Some of the most powerful data has come from amateur naturalists and recorders. Chris investigates what climate change means for UK plants and animals and predicts the winners and the losers.

By showcasing new and exciting ways in which conservation can help our flora and fauna deal with the challenge, Chris reveals not only large-scale visionary schemes, but also advice on how people play their part in shaping a positive future for UK wildlife in a changing world.

With last winter being the coldest in over 30 years, and the recent confusion over climate science, people on the street are beginning to question just how real climate change is.

In this hour-long special Chris Packham puts across the argument that nature can provide us with the clues we need to understand that climate change is very much a real, current and complicated conservation concern.

He also takes an inspiring look at what conservationists and the public can do to help wildlife cope with the pressure climate change brings.

Proof of climate change is outlined in how the study of natural seasonal events, known as phenology, gives us the evidence we need to show that over the centuries our world has warmed up.

Many of these vital bodies of data have actually come from amateur naturalists and passionate nature enthusiasts – from 90-year-old Jene Combe, who has been recording the first dates of oak leaves to break out of bud for 40 years, to Robert Marsham, a 17th-century naturalist who started the whole modern day approach to phenology, Chris reveals that records kept for hundreds of years show us the seasons are changing.

One recent study has shown spring is arriving 11 days earlier in just 30 years. What will these changing seasons mean? Chris visits Oxford University's Wytham Wood to investigate how the very fabric of our natural food chains are under threat via a breakdown in the natural balance and timing of nature – its synchronicity.

Some species are coping well, while others, particularly migrant birds, seem to be struggling. Chris explores what a warmer world will mean for individual British species such as mountain hares, a species likely to lose out as their mountain top homes lack snow in a warmer world, leaving them vulnerable to predators as their winter white coats designed for snowy conditions stand out on snowless brown hillsides.

He also shows us there will be winners, too – bats, for instance, will flourish in milder winters. The case that we humans should now try and help is argued for by explaining how climate change is almost certainly caused by humankind, not the natural cycles of the Earth's climate as some believe.

Despite the recent confusion, the vast majority of scientists remain convinced that climate change is indeed human-made.

With this in mind, what exactly can be done to help nature deal with the problem? How can we help our wildlife adapt to rapid changes in their habitats and their food chains?

Chris considers that the idea of nature reserves has to change. We need to start looking "Landscape Scale Conservation", the idea that a landscape must work for wildlife and people at the same time, that habitats can start have environmental capital if they are to be helped to get through climate change.

An example of this is The Wildlife Trusts' Plynlumon Project in Wales. Here, they're asking insurance companies to pay a few thousand pounds for habitat restoration, while those same companies may save millions as the new habitats created will help prevent extreme flood events by soaking up rainfall. It's a complex approach to conservation but an exciting step forward that will help nature deal with climate change by giving it a whole landscape through which it can move and adapt.

Conserving our landscape isn't the only challenge. We sometimes forget we are an island, surrounded by the sea. Marine conservation is sadly lacking in the UK, with only three marine nature reserves currently designated. Chris calls for our marine life to be better protected – landscape conservation on a seascape scale – and assesses the progress of the Government's Marine Bill.

Springwatch is very much a programme for the people. It champions people taking action in their own lives to help nature. To round the programme off, Chris reminds us that while big conservation efforts are under way by large charities and the government, we can still do our bit too.

It could be simple as getting your school to plant a mini woodland to help create urban wildlife corridors, to help nature move as climate change puts them under pressure.

Also vitally important is to keep up all that phenology – monitoring our seasons will be the key to telling us how well conservation efforts are succeeding in the future.

We can all do our bit to help, and Springwatch will have many suggestions as to how we can each get involved, with loads of extra information and links on the Springwatch website, including links to two exciting new initiatives from the Open University – i-Spot and Creative Climate.