Driest Spring for 132 years has huge impact on flock of Lancashire residents

With Spring 2025 the driest for 132 years, the relative lack of drizzle and rain has had a sizeable impact on a group of Lancashire residents, who have been forced to alter a centuries-old routine as a result of the climactic shift.

At Blackpool Zoo, the resident flock of flamingos have delayed their breeding season for the longest time on record due to the unusually dry Spring in Lancashire so far, with the zoo even going as far as to ship in four tonnes of sand to encourage the bird to build their nests.

Recent rains, however, have seen the flamingos get to work constructing their nests, which are small mounds of sand and water located in places where they can remain wet as flamingos continuously build them during their 27-to-31-day incubation period.

Commenting on the unusual happenings at Flamingo Lake, Blackpool Zoo’s Deputy Section Head Luke Forster said: “Caribbean flamingos are very social birds that are known for their elaborate nesting behaviours. They build their nests in large colonies, carefully shaping the mounds to protect their eggs, which are incubated by both and male and female birds.

"Both genders also produce crop milk to feed the chicks once they have hatched and, in some cases, pairs of the same sex will take on the responsibility of incubating and raising a chick, even if the egg isn’t theirs!"

Typically, flamingos will start collectively building nests as soon as they notice the ‘most confident flamingo’ laying an egg, encouraging others to follow suit and, as soon as the mounds are constructed, the birds become extremely protective and territorial.

When the new-born chicks finally hatch, they have a grey-white hue and a straight beak, with their distinctive pink colour emerging over the course of their first few years as they eat foods rich in carotenoid pigments which make some plants, algae, and crustaceans various shades of red, orange, pink, and yellow.