大象传媒

April has been chosen as Mole Survey Month by conservationists who are assessing how climate change is affecting Devon's key species.

Members of the public are being asked to help the Devon Biodiversity Records Centre, which is gathering information for the Devon Wildlife Trust's Climate Change Campaign.

The humble mole is one of four species whose behaviour will be assessed again in five years' time to see if they are being affected by climate change.

Temperatures are predicted to rise by possibly 6% by the end of this century.

The other three species in the survey are hedgehogs, dormice, and Red Admiral butterflies.

To highlight the possible changes to our wildlife, the trust produced posters of the four species showing them in transition. The mole, for example, develops flippers.

A trust poster depicting a mole with flippers

Throughout April 2007, conservationists will be collating sightings of molehills - which is where the public can help.

Moles are rarely seen - the most obvious sign of their presence is a molehill. People who spot such activity can give details of their sighting by visiting the Devon Wildlife Trust website - see the link on this page.

Another survey will then be held in April 2012, to see if their behaviour patterns have been changed.

It's believed that hotter summers could make it more difficult for moles to burrow in the earth.

Weather changes might also adversely affect the availability of their main food source - earthworms.

David Ireland, from the trust, said: "Hot, dry summers are likely to be bad news for moles and are becoming more frequent in the UK.

"The soil is harder to dig in and the worms harder to find. Another problem for moles to do with climate change is the warm, wet winters which could end up flooding their tunnels."

He added: "The webpage has gone live, so people can now record their sightings of mole hills in their gardens and anywhere they come across them.听

"We are encouraging people to submit records of molehills to help us fill up our map of Devon so we have a good set of baseline data to compare trends in a few years."

You can read more about the trust's Climate Change Campaign by clicking on to the link to our feature.