The Dutch spring is starting earlier every year and climate change is likely to be the cause, the national statistics office CBS said on Friday.

For example, the breeding season for song birds has shifted from mid-May in the 1980s to the beginning of May nowadays, the CBS said. All songbirds, whether migratory or not, show the same pattern.

The average temperature in the Netherlands has risen 1.5 degrees over the previous 100 years and this year is expected to be the warmest on record, the CBS said.

The rising temperatures also mean that some plants and other species have moved northwards to the Netherlands, while others have died out.