‘Climate chaos’ is disrupting Ireland’s plants, which will have a knock-on affect on the animals that rely on them to survive
Blackberries are fruiting two weeks earlier than they did in 1852. Photo: Getty
In the hedgerows and woodlands of Ireland, autumn has been marked out by the first flush of blackberries, the fall of conkers and the golden turn of leaves.
But, in recent years, and again this autumn, reassuring natural milestones have begun to change and shift, and – in some cases – have been severely disrupted.