Extreme weather in 2014 created an unpredictable rollercoaster of a year for our beleaguered wildlife and saw a raft of migrant species visiting our shores, say experts at the National Trust in their annual wildlife and weather round-up.

As a result of the warm, often wet summer, this year’s wildlife winners include biting flies, slugs and snails. More positively, many resident birds, mammals and amphibians also had good breeding seasons, although the picture is patchy and localised.

The year, however, will be most remembered for the winter storms in January and February; indicating the challenges that the natural world could face with the growing extremes of weather some of which may be caused by climate change.

National Trust rangers looking after the 742 miles of coastline cared for by the charity across England, Wales and Northern Ireland witnessed several years’ worth of erosion, while inland many of the Trust’s gardens and parklands suffered their greatest tree losses in almost 30 years.

Little terns along the Norfolk coast at Blakeney had to nest in low areas as a result of severe tidal surges which changed the beach profile. High tides followed in mid-June and flooded the seabirds’ nests resulting in a very poor breeding season.

Elsewhere, many other seabirds, however, recovered from the winter storms to stage highly successful breeding seasons against a period of decline since 2000. This included the shag population on the Farne Islands, where rangers recorded a 37 per cent increase on last year’s count thanks to a mild summer and good food availability.

The winter, while wet, was also unseasonably mild. As the land dried out in March, spring insects begun to appear far earlier than usual and puffins returned to the Farne Islands two weeks early.

Matthew Oates, National Specialist on Nature and Wildlife at the National Trust, said: “The greatest challenge for wildlife this year, and perhaps a sign of things to come, was the extreme weather. This combined with the loss of habitat means that nature is in for a bumpy ride in the years ahead as shown by the rollercoaster that many species endured in 2014.

“The mild winter gave way to an early and rapid spring. But early springs almost always end in tears, as this one did.

“June, however, was superb and July more than good, but August – the key holiday month – let the summer down badly, only for a warm, dry September to follow. A most topsy-turvy year.”

The early sunny summer months were brought to a damp end by a cool, wet and windy August. The tail end of Hurricane Bertha helped to make it the eighth wettest August on record.

September arrived and made its way into the history books as the second driest. Tree bumblebees, whose spread was noticeable this year, were recorded for the first time in Northern Ireland, at Cushenden on the Antrim coast. Since first appearing in the UK in 2006, this attractive bumblebee has spread rapidly.

Although October was wet and mild, September’s drought led to an often disappointing year for fungi, damaged further by slugs which were out in force as a result of October’s rain.

The mild and wet autumn led to a second spring, with frogspawn discovered on the Lizard in Cornwall on 21 November and the first proper frost in the south only arriving on 23 November.

Matthew Oates added: “This was a remarkable year for much of our wildlife, with many extreme highs and lows. Some species fared exceptionally well, others very poorly, with many faring differently from region to region.

“After such a helter-skelter year we wonder what lies ahead and what the winter will bring. Last winter was too wet, too windy and even too mild. Perhaps we could do with a ‘proper winter’, leading to a slow but sure spring? Whatever happens in the months ahead, we and our wildlife will have to cope.

“This is our annual snapshot of how nature has fared over the past year. We remain worried about the long term trends which show enormous pressure on species and habitats.”