Not good news for hay fever sufferers like me. The Guardian covered a press release from the Woodland Trust today which had this to say:

…in response to global warming, many flowers (which includes tree and grass flowers) are flowering earlier and for longer, therefore releasing pollen for longer periods than before; and 95 per cent of hayfever is triggered by grass pollen.

This is based upon results obtained by a phenological recording survey, where volunteers around the UK provide information about the flowering times of plants in their areas. There is apparently evidence to show that flowering has been occurring gradually earlier and earlier over the last 30 years or so.

While a system using untrained volunteer data collectors may not be the most rigorous way of collecting evidence of changes in our environment (although it can certainly point us towards areas worthy of more detailed research) this looks like a reasonable effort to gather some data – a nationwide longitudinal survey like this could cost an absolute fortune. Anything that can help us build up a picture of what changes are taking place, as clearly something is effecting our environment, has got to be worthwhile. Although the causes of this change are subject to some controversy, this seems largely irrelevant when monitoring it’s effects at ground (grassroots?) level.

(After I’d seen this story and started to think about blogging it, I noticed that Steven Den Beste had posted a sarcastic note on this piece of news to his blog. He summarised it as “an idiocy angle to the climate change story”. I can’t see why this story should be seen as “idiocy”. It’s merely a report of an observation that the flowering season of plants in the UK has been starting earlier and ending later over that past few years in response to some kind of climate change.)