UK Nature and Environment

You would be fooled for thinking it is a frosty winter's morning or a Halloween scene, but a once-in-a-year phenomenon that puts a covering of white across trees, bushes and hedgerows is actually down to thousands of caterpillars.

The white webbing has been seen across the East of England this May, and is created on host plants by the larvae who protect themselves from predators before they turn into moths or butterflies.

East Anglian-based entomologist, Dr Ian Bedford, said: "Inside that net blanket is thousands and thousands of little caterpillars all munching on the leaves.

Wild camping will be allowed on Dartmoor after the supreme court ruled that a multimillionaire landowner was wrong to ban it on his land.

Dartmoor was – until the legal action – the only place in England where wild camping without the permission of the landowner was enshrined in law. In Scotland, people have enjoyed this right since 2003.

For two years, Alexander Darwall, a multimillionaire hedge fund manager, has been pursuing the matter through the courts against the Dartmoor National Park Authority (DNPA), as he does not want people camping on his land without his permission.

A new initiative aimed at tackling the deepening environmental crisis in Wales is gaining momentum, as conservationists rally public support to launch a pioneering Nature Investigations Unit.

The project, developed by the Initiative for Nature Conservation Cymru (INCC), seeks to hold environmental decision-makers to account and reverse the alarming decline of wildlife and habitats across the country.

The proposed unit will bring together a team of experienced journalists, campaigners, and researchers tasked with investigating the root causes of nature’s decline in Wales. Their work will focus on exposing harmful policies, challenging inaction, and proposing evidence-based solutions to restore biodiversity and protect the natural environment.

Sand dunes badly damaged in a fire could take years to recover, experts have said.

Naomi Kay, manager of Solway Coast National Landscape, said the damage caused to an area of Silloth Dunes at the weekend - roughly the size of two football pitches - was "horrifying" and had destroyed wildlife habitats.

Cumbria Fire and Rescue Service said it was still investigating the cause of the blaze but warned people of the risk of barbecues and camping stoves in the countryside.

A Devon charity has been awarded a large grant to help protect and restore an ecologically important area of marshy grassland.

The Shallowford Farm Trust on Dartmoor provides children from inner-city areas with the chance to experience life on East Shallowford Farm.

The trust has secured a grant of £227,166 from the Heritage Lottery Fund to safeguard and restore its rare rhos pasture habitat - a wet grassland ecosystem characterised by purple moor grass and rushes.

A rare sighting of a white stork has caught people's attention in various parts of Northern Ireland.

The Ulster Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (USPCA) posted on Facebook that it had received "numerous calls from concerned members of the public regarding an "injured stork over the past two days".

It seems the bird was spotted in Botanic Gardens, Belfast, parts of Downpatrick in County Down and even in Donegal.

Our wildlife vets have given nine rare hazel dormice the all-clear, ahead of the tiny rodent’s release into the wild next month.

The dormice – including three born at Whipsnade Zoo - each received a health screening from our Disease Risk Analysis and Health Surveillance Team (DRAHS), as part of ongoing national conservation efforts to recover populations of this vulnerable mammal, which was once widespread across England and Wales.

During the 10-minute-long health checks, the fluffy-tailed dormice were placed under general anaesthetic so that the team of vets could gently check the heart and lungs of each dormouse, before carefully looking over their eyes, ears, nose, teeth and fur, to ensure the animals are ready for release. Each mouse was fitted with a microchip to help conservationists accurately identify individuals during follow-up monitoring, when they check how the dormice are doing in their new woodland home.

A farmer is nurturing a brood of white stork chicks as part of a charity's aim to reintroduce them in the county.

Yan Swiderski has welcomed eight stork chicks from the adults he keeps in a woodland near Wadebridge as part of work by the Cornwall Stork Project.

Wildlife expert Chris Packham said the project was "exciting" as it would "hopefully recolonise Cornwall" with the birds.

• 28 environmental charities have served a spoof planning notice to MPs, warning that the Planning & Infrastructure Bill is an application to demolish wildlife
• The coalition is calling on Government to urgently fix the Bill with amendments to uphold wildlife protections and help nature recover at the same time as supporting sustainable development—to make the planning system ‘Wilder By Design’.
• Writing to charities a year ago, the Deputy Prime Minister said the Government “will not legislate” to amend key nature laws if it would weaken them. In the opinion of the Government’s own nature watchdog, the current bill breaks that promise.
• Nature loss in the constituencies of Ministers proposing the reforms is also highlighted today.

The main findings show that, as of 31 March 2025, 75.2% of Scotland’s natural features on protected nature sites are either in, or recovering towards, a favourable condition. This figure represents a 3.8 percentage point increase since the baseline in 2005. There is a 0.3 percentage point decrease since last year.

(A difference of less than +/-1 percentage point from last year's figure suggests that the position is more likely to be maintaining than showing any change.)

The report draws on annual monitoring carried out by NatureScot of the condition of the 5,603 natural features across Scotland. As of 31 March 2025, 5,433 natural features were assessed and divided into three categories: habitats such as grasslands, woodlands and uplands (72.7% in favourable condition), species such as the evidence of seabirds breeding, presence of freshwater pearl mussels and number of vascular plant populations (72.5% in favourable condition) and earth sciences such as geographical outcrops and landforms, fossil beds and caves (94.4% in favourable condition).

A rare and unexpected sighting has been reported of what appears to be a dolphin or a porpoise swimming in the River Usk in Newport.

This unusual occurrence has captured the attention of local residents and wildlife enthusiasts alike. The River Usk is known for its diverse wildlife, including salmon, trout, otters, and various bird species, but sightings of dolphins or any mammals are exceedingly rare – especially in Newport city centre.

The animal was captured by a local dog-walker, walking on the cycle track between Shaftesbury and Caerleon, and has been shared to social media where locals say the animal had been spotted by many as it made its way down the river.

Citizen testing of rivers in England and Wales by anglers reveals that more than a third of freshwater sites breach phosphate levels for good ecological status.

Volunteers from angling groups are using the data to try to drive change in the way rivers are treated – but the task ahead is huge, according to the Angling Trust and Fish Legal.

“Our freshwater habitats are in crisis – a fact now widely recognised by the public, politicians and regulators,” the chief executive, Jamie Cook, said. “Many anglers already knew this, having witnessed the decline in water quality at our favourite fishing spots.

Endangered water voles in Wales are being fed edible glitter in a bid to save them from extinction.

Once commonly found across south Wales, water voles are now effectively extinct in all but a few locations, according to the Wildlife Trust.

With their future hanging in the balance, conservationists have been looking for new ways to track the naturally shy individuals in the wild - which is where the glitter comes in.

Estuaries across England and Wales are at risk of losing important habitat as it is “squeezed” out by rising seas and human development, a study warns.

Estuaries are key for wildlife such as wading birds, as breeding and nursery grounds for commercially important fish, and for storing carbon and improving water quality by filtering nutrients, contaminants and sediment.

However, a combination of rising seas and lower summer river levels as a result of climate change, and man-made barriers such as weirs and dams are putting freshwater habitat at the top of estuaries at risk, according to scientists who have previously coined the phenomenon “estuarine squeeze”.

As we head into the warmer months, Natural Resources Wales (NRW) is reminding the public that marine algal blooms are a natural occurrence around the Welsh coastline, and are especially common between April and August.

Algal blooms are rapid increases in algae in the sea, lakes, and rivers often triggered by warmer temperatures and increased sunlight.

They include seaweeds and tiny plants suspended in the water and can look like green flakes, greenish bundles or brownish dots.

Thousands of passionate water users gathered at beaches, rivers, and lakes across the UK to take a stand against sewage pollution today (Saturday, May 17) The nationwide Paddle-Out protests, organised by environmental charity Surfers Against Sewage (SAS), was a powerful visual demonstration of public frustration — with people of all ages, from surfers to swimmers, kayakers to bathers, uniting to demand urgent action on one of the UK's most pressing environmental crises.

Over 40 locations, from the sunny shores of Bournemouth to the windswept sands of Broad Haven Beach, saw crowds paddle out into the water, their voices raised against the pollution that is choking the life out of the nation's blue spaces.

The protests come at the start of the official bathing season in Wales and England — a time when the UK's waters should be a safe haven for those seeking summer fun, not a source of worry about their health.

Keir Starmer’s planning bill will “push the public towards Reform”, a Labour MP has said as he urges his colleagues to back amendments to the legislation.

Chris Hinchliff, MP for North East Hertfordshire, has submitted a package of amendments to the bill, which as it stands, lets developers “pay cash to trash nature”, he said. These will be debated in parliament during the report stage in early June.

One of his amendments, to protect chalk streams, was rejected by the government this week. A growing number of backbenchers are becoming concerned and angry about the bill, with Clive Lewis and Terry Jermy among those supporting amendments to strengthen protections for nature.

Lancashire Wildlife Trust has started a new research initiative that will change how landscapes are managed.

This project, a collaboration with the University of Essex, focuses on a fresh approach throughout the North West and beyond.

Lucy O’Reilly, the trust's conservation grazing officer, is leading the study.

She is enhancing it with 30 NoFence collars borrowed from the University of Essex.

A man has said he "couldn't believe" what he was seeing when he came across a shark swimming in an east Belfast river.

Thomas Davidson was cycling through Victoria Park on Tuesday evening when he spotted a 4ft-long starry smooth-hound shark in the Connswater River, where the waterway meets Belfast Lough.

The species of shark has been seen in other urban areas such as the River Thames and the River Mersey estuary.

We're concerned new reforms could potentially undermine the spirit of the Bathing Water Regulations to protect the health of water users.

As the official Bathing Water season begins on 15th May in England and Wales, we're raising serious concerns about UK and Welsh Government plans to reform Bathing Water Regulations. Without changes, these reforms could threaten public health, reduce the number of newly designated bathing sites and fail to address current concerns over sampling.

In England, our research has revealed that 103 water samples were excluded from water quality assessments during the 2024 Bathing Season. These samples, taken during short-term pollution events or ‘abnormal situations’, are currently permitted to be removed from final classifications under existing rules in England. Whilst water users at the time are informed of the pollution, it means that samples with some of the highest levels of pollution are being ignored in categorising Bathing Waters as ‘Excellent’, ‘Good’, ‘Sufficient’ or ‘Poor’. This practice could mask the true level of pollution, risking the health of swimmers and other water users.

Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust welcomes Basingstoke & Deane Borough Council’s momentous decision, at Full Council on Thursday 15 May, to grant ‘personhood’ rights to local rivers.

This landmark move marks an unprecedented step in granting legal rights to rivers, offering greater protection to Hampshire’s globally rare chalk streams and delivering a major victory for nature.

The Rights of the River movement acknowledges the fundamental rights of nature and our duty to protect it. It is informed by the Universal Declaration of the Rights of Rivers, which outlines rights such as the right to flow and to remain free from pollution.

Marine scientists and conservationists shocked to find ancient maerl beds off St Mawes smothered in algae caused by poor water quality.

Speakers and delegates at the recent 'UK Maerl Forum', the first international event of its kind, were left in sombre mood after a dive organised to explore the maerl beds revealed a worrying deterioration in these ancient habitats.

Participants from across the UK, Ireland and Brittany had gathered in Cornwall to hear talks from UK experts on local maerl beds. Long underappreciated, maerl is increasingly recognised as a irreplaceable marine habitat - acting as a nursery for commercial fish and shellfish species, as well as a vital carbon store.

The latest annual report from the Breeding Bird Survey is now available, providing population trends of the UK’s breeding birds.

Published today, the latest BTO/JNCC/RSPB Breeding Bird Survey (BBS) report shows positive news for a range of birds including Marsh Harrier and Corn Bunting. However, the report also reveals worrying declines for familiar woodland and garden species such as Chaffinch and Bullfinch. The latest data also show that some farmland birds that have experienced long-term declines, like Yellowhammer and Yellow Wagtail, continue to struggle.

BBS is the main scheme for monitoring the population changes of the UK’s common and widespread breeding birds. Long-term surveys such as BBS provide the evidence base that underpins effective conservation action, helping identify which species need help, where efforts should be focused, and whether interventions are working. Of the 119 species monitored by BBS, 43 have decreased since 1995, while 36 have increased.

A four-year project has used robot mowers, goats, and planted trees to create more than 60 hectares of new butterfly habitat across the midlands.

Butterfly Conservation led the Butterfly Mosaics project to help rare species such as the Pearl-bordered Fritillary, Silver-studded Blue and Grizzled Skipper.

The work was carried out at nature reserves in Worcestershire, Shropshire, Staffordshire, Warwickshire and Nottinghamshire.

Almost 20,000 trees and shrubs have been planted in efforts to improve woodland in the North Pennines.

North Pennines National Landscape (NPNL) said the three-year project involved working with about 120 landowners to identify 761 acres (308 hectares) as suitable for trees.

The project focused on small woodlands and low-density wood pasture, with scrub and scattered canopy trees to work alongside farming systems, NPNL said.