Jellyfish flourish but wasps wobble in year of climate confusion

National Trust survey shows how sunny winter and wet and windy summer affected British flora and fauna

It was a good year for picnickers, but a bad one for sea swimmers: in the National Trust's annual survey of how the weather and climate has affected Britain's flora and fauna, jellyfish were judged to have flourished while wasps suffered a sharp decline.

A sunny winter was followed by a late spring, which meant summer migrant birds were late, as were the leaves on the hedges. A pretty wet and windy summer followed, but September and October came good, leading to prolonged flowering for many summer plants and a longer season for insects.