A prolonged winter and freezing spring may have got the year off to a bad start, but the hot summer helped ensure that 2013 was an excellent year for UK wildlife – especially insects.

That is the verdict of the National Trust’s Matthew Oates, one of the country’s top nature specialists, who described 2013 as “the best wildlife year since 2006 and one of the most remarkable in living memory”.

Mr Oates said: “The way our butterflies and other sun-loving insects bounced back in July was utterly amazing, showing nature’s powers of recovery at their best. Many birds and mammals also recovered well from the cold late spring.”

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The winners of the year were warmth-loving insects, particularly butterflies, moths, bees, crickets and grasshoppers, while the tree bumblebee, which only started to colonise the UK in 2001, expanded considerably, going north of Hadrian’s Wall for the first time.

Shape Created with Sketch. A year in nature: How species fared Show all 12 left Created with Sketch. right Created with Sketch. Shape Created with Sketch. A year in nature: How species fared 1/12 January A wonderful winter for waxwings. Dan Kitwood/Getty Images 2/12 February Snowdrops continued to flower for an unusually long period, prolonged by the cold weather. Karl-Josef Hildenbrand/DPA/Getty Images 3/12 March The extreme cold weather caused frogs to fail to breed in many ponds, while badgers and hedgehogs suffered from a shortage of worms. Karl-Josef Hildenbrand/DPA/Getty Images 4/12 April Spring was running late, with dandelions reaching their peak only at the end of the month, two to three weeks late. Philippe Huguen/AFP/Getty Images 5/12 May A record year for puffins, above, nesting on the Farne Islands and Lundy. Bluebells were delayed by almost a month, not reaching their peak flowering until mid-May, whilst daffodils persisted well into May. Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images 6/12 June A record year for nesting Sandwich terns on Blakeney Point, Norfolk, and for eider duck at Strangford Lough, Co Down, while the orchid population exploded at Plas Newydd, Anglesey. National Trust/PA 7/12 July Butterflies appeared from nowhere, with a spectacular emergence of purple emperors in the woods. There were huge population explosions of chalkhill blues on many downs and tree bumblebees were visible everywhere. Getty Images 8/12 August A very rare migrant butterfly, the long-tailed blue, established breeding colonies along the south-east coast. Lots of crickets and grasshoppers, with a record count of wart-biter bush cricket on north Wiltshire downs. Flickr/Getty Images 9/12 September A good year for blackberries and some of the most colourful apples for years. Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images 10/12 October A great year for fungi, particularly in Saltram, Plymouth. Dan Kitwood/Getty Images 11/12 November There was an abundance of most autumn berries, fruits, seeds and nuts, especially rowan berries. Dan Kitwood/Getty Images 12/12 December A great year for mistletoe. Christopher Furlong/Getty Images 1/12 January A wonderful winter for waxwings. Dan Kitwood/Getty Images 2/12 February Snowdrops continued to flower for an unusually long period, prolonged by the cold weather. Karl-Josef Hildenbrand/DPA/Getty Images 3/12 March The extreme cold weather caused frogs to fail to breed in many ponds, while badgers and hedgehogs suffered from a shortage of worms. Karl-Josef Hildenbrand/DPA/Getty Images 4/12 April Spring was running late, with dandelions reaching their peak only at the end of the month, two to three weeks late. Philippe Huguen/AFP/Getty Images 5/12 May A record year for puffins, above, nesting on the Farne Islands and Lundy. Bluebells were delayed by almost a month, not reaching their peak flowering until mid-May, whilst daffodils persisted well into May. Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images 6/12 June A record year for nesting Sandwich terns on Blakeney Point, Norfolk, and for eider duck at Strangford Lough, Co Down, while the orchid population exploded at Plas Newydd, Anglesey. National Trust/PA 7/12 July Butterflies appeared from nowhere, with a spectacular emergence of purple emperors in the woods. There were huge population explosions of chalkhill blues on many downs and tree bumblebees were visible everywhere. Getty Images 8/12 August A very rare migrant butterfly, the long-tailed blue, established breeding colonies along the south-east coast. Lots of crickets and grasshoppers, with a record count of wart-biter bush cricket on north Wiltshire downs. Flickr/Getty Images 9/12 September A good year for blackberries and some of the most colourful apples for years. Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images 10/12 October A great year for fungi, particularly in Saltram, Plymouth. Dan Kitwood/Getty Images 11/12 November There was an abundance of most autumn berries, fruits, seeds and nuts, especially rowan berries. Dan Kitwood/Getty Images 12/12 December A great year for mistletoe. Christopher Furlong/Getty Images

“What was unique about this year is the way it turned itself round. The recent predecessor years were so dreadful and everything was spiralling down and it rained and rained and rained. It started badly, then we had a late spring and the coldest March for 50 years,” Mr Oates said.

“But then we had a wonderful July. And the way nature fought back was miraculous; it went into overdrive. It’s a rags to riches story.”

It was a particularly good year for the chalkhill blue butterfly, which exploded on many of Britain’s downs in July, especially at Denbies hillside in Surrey – thanks to a combination of the heatwave and an abundance of nutritious horseshoe vetch.It was also a great autumn, with the greatest abundance of fruit, seed and berries since 2006, with apple, haws, holly berry, rowan, figs and blackberries all showing unusually high yields.

But 2013 wasn’t all fun and games for wildlife, with the cold, late spring proving to be a very difficult time for many. For example, many summer migrant birds, such as swallows and martins, and residents such as owls suffered badly.