Winter blooming of hundreds of plants in UK ‘visible signal’ of climate breakdown

New year plant hunt shows rising temperatures are shifting natural cycles of wildflowers such as daisies

Daisies and dandelions are among hundreds of native plant species blooming in the UK, in what scientists have called a visible signal" of climate breakdown disrupting the natural world.

A Met Office analysis of data from the annual new year's plant hunt over the past nine years found an extra 2.5 species in bloom during the new year period for every 1C rise in temperature at a given location during the previous November and December. This year's hunt started on Thursday and runs until Sunday.