A BIOLOGIST from the University of York has found wetter uplands might protect vulnerable areas from climate change.

Chris Thomas, professor of conservation biology at York, also suggested breeding birds would benefit from keeping moorland soils wet, through an increase in crane-fly population.

He said: “Climate change projections show British uplands will experience warmer, drier summers. This could be damaging enough to cause crane-fly numbers to crash. If we lose the crane-flies, then the birds that rely on them are likely to decline.”