Independent: Climate change is causing familiar British birds to lay their eggs earlier, according to a survey of UK bird populations. Species like the chaffinch are laying their eggs about a week sooner than 40 years ago and blue tits, great tits, robins and swallows arebehaving in a similar fashion, the State of the UK’s Birds report for 2007, published today, has found. In 1966, the average date for chaffinches laying their first egg was 11 May, but it was 2 May in 2006. For the robin, …