A spring monitoring programme by the Finnish nature League ended this weekend, with naturalists recording nearly 10,000 sightings.
Species particularly affected by the late spring include the whooping swan, the black-headed seagull and the white-tailed bumble bee.
Naturalists say there have been significantly fewer sightings of these species compared to last year, while flora such as blue and white anemone flowers have also been rarer than one year ago. Nature lovers are also still waiting to catch sight of the may lily.
However species such as the tortoiseshell butterfly making a comeback in numbers compared to last year. There’ve also been more sightings of blindworms than last year.
The Finnish Nature League and the Finnish Association for Nature Conservation in cooperation with the Lumo 2010 project have tracked the appearance and proliferation of more than 40 plant and animal species this spring.