High temperatures causing trees to blossom weeks early

Some trees are starting to blossom earlier than usual in the UK.

Trees usually start to blossom in early spring, around the middle of March.

However, this year the National Trust reported trees at some of their sites were beginning to flower already and had been starting to blossom throughout February.

That's because of unusually warm weather last month.

As long as there aren't any sudden cold dips, there should be lots of blossom throughout the spring season, followed by lots of fruit.

Where are we seeing more blossoms?

The National Trust is a conservation charity that looks after lots of gardens, historical buildings and natural spaces in the UK.

It said gardens across the South West and South East of England were experiencing blossom, much earlier than expected this year.

It said this was likely to be because of the "rapidly changing climate", as the Earth warms up as a result of global warming.

Magnolias, red rhododendrons and apricot trees were all blossoming early, it said.

National Trust gardener Chris Flynn added: "On the plus side, this early emergence of blossom means there is plenty of food for our white-tailed bumblebees."

These buds you can see on trees at this time of year are the flowers preparing to shoot out when it's not too cold!

What are the concerns?

Although it means we could have a beautiful blossoming spring, experts are concerned about what this means for the climate.

To work with the changing climate, National Trust gardens have been planting a wide variety of flowers and shrubs, so the insects have plenty to munch on throughout the season, in case the weather changes.

What is blossom?

Before a plant forms a fruit or vegetable, it creates a flower from a bud.

The flowers attract bees and other insects to come and pollinate it, by taking pollen from one plant and delivering it to another.

Insects go from flower to flower, picking up pollen and collecting food in the form of nectar.

This usually happens in spring time, when it starts to get warmer after winter.

Every spring, fruit trees like the cherry or the apple create beautiful bright blossom flowers, before the conditions are right for their fruit to form.

Blossom trees are very special in some countries. For example, in Japan they hold a festival to celebrate blossoms and the arrival of spring.