UK Nature and Environment

Landowners across the Severn catchment area have been invited to participate in a land re-wetting initiative aimed at supporting peatlands and developing nature-based water management.

The Severn Valley Water Management Scheme (SVWMS) is collaborating with Shropshire Wildlife Trust to deliver a demonstrator project.

This is part of a broader strategy to reduce flood risk and provide additional benefits to the Severn catchment area and beyond.

Kuki, an Australian Cattle Dog, was deployed with her handlers to St Agnes, Gugh and Annet to search for signs of rodents on 10 and 11 February.

In autumn the Isles of Scilly Wildlife Trust (IOSWT) said probable signs of a mouse had been found on St Agnes which could pose a threat to its population of storm petrels.

After Kuki's visit the chief of Isles of Scilly Wildlife Trust (IOSWT) Julian Branscombe said: "There were no signs of rats, great job from Kuki!"

Residents of Kendal, Cumbria, first spotted the oily substance floating atop the River Kent near Mintsfeet industrial estate on Friday.

David Harpley from the Cumbria Wildlife Trust said the river was "famous for white clawed crayfish" that were "likely to be affected by poor water chemistry".

The Environment Agency (EA) said the issue had been traced to a surface water drain and that it worked with United Utilities to deploy oil absorbent booms and bales to stem the flow of diesel.

Sightings of wild boar on Dartmoor have raised suspicions a guerrilla rewilder has been releasing them – and prompted a debate over whether they should be allowed to remain.

Videos of a group of boar on the moors in Devon were posted online earlier this month, and a dog walker has recently complained of a close encounter with one of them, which frightened his pet.

Experts suspect the boar could have been illegally reintroduced, possibly by people who want to repopulate the moors with the once indigenous species. Boar used to roam Dartmoor but were later hunted to extinction in Britain by the 17th century.

Right now is a pivotal moment for nature and farming. The UK Government is considering how to balance budgets ahead of its Comprehensive Spending Review in June. The farming budget – the biggest pot of funding for nature – is in the firing line. But any cut now would be a disaster for nature and farming.

We need more funding for nature-friendly farming, not less

Independent research says the UK Government must increase investment in nature-friendly farming from the £3.5 billion it is now, to £5.9 billion a year. This investment and long-term commitments are vital for all four countries in the UK if we’re going to see our wildlife recover, hit our nature and climate targets and support more resilient food production.

Thousands of citizen scientists took part in the Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland's (BSBI) 14th New Year Plant Hunt to find wild or naturalised plants flowering in midwinter.

These observations help to provide scientists with robust evidence of how wild plants are responding to a rapidly changing climate, and the implications this may have for all our wildlife.

A total of 647 different plant species were found in bloom on this winter's hunt, which took place between 29 December 2024 and 1 January 2025. This represents the third-highest total recorded. The three most frequently recorded species were Daisy, Dandelion and Groundsel.

Vicar Water flows through the Nottinghamshire country park of the same name and then alongside Clipstone Colliery.

Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust (NWT) says a 600m (1,968ft) section - from the nearby railway bridge to Baulkner Lane - was previously heavily modified, with much of it buried underground during the mining construction in the 1950s.

The project will restore a "more natural river channel" through "deculverting", the trust says, and will introduce measures to improve water flow.

Mayor Steve Rotheram has urged people to contribute to the Local Nature Recovery Strategy (LNRS), saying there has been "a worrying decline in our habitats and biodiversity" over the past decades.

"The Local Nature Recovery Strategy is about turning the tide, identifying the best ways to restore and enhance habitats, and ensuring that nature can thrive across our region."

Local officials say the area has experienced a 5% loss of land habitats since the 1980s "including 10% of its most biodiverse grasslands".

Trees in ancient Denbighshire woodland have been given a regal look at they live out their dying days. Shorn of their crowns, they’ve been given coronets instead.

The pruning technique mimics the way diseased and wind-damaged trees appear when their trunks are fractured. Those pictured here are at the Graig Wyllt (Wild Rock) Nature Reserve, a former limestone quarry near Ruthin.

Oak and ash trees covers the craggy slopes of a site that gives way the a grassland panorama giving spectacular views of the Vale of Clwyd and the Eryri mountains beyond. The place positively blooms in spring when the woodland floor is carpeted with flowers.

Water quality at a popular wild swimming spot in Shropshire will be monitored by a new £25,000 project.

The Environment Agency (EA), with funding from the River Severn Partnership Advanced Wireless Innovation Region, has installed high-tech sensors in the River Teme at the Linney Riverside Park, Ludlow.

The trial, lasting two months, will provide daily remote readings. Previously, water quality was manually checked once per week.

Thousands of starlings have been putting on a display above a street in Hull.

The flock of birds first appeared four weeks ago, but have since been joined by many others during their murmuration at dusk.

Sarah Richardson, who filmed the spectacle, said: "There's absolutely thousands of them."

The birds fly together in large groups called murmurations to create shapes and scare away predators.

Norfolk Wildlife Trust (NWT) and its partners were behind the project to find the ponds or "pingos" which originated through natural glacial processes more than 10,000 years ago.

NWT said dormant seeds preserved in sediment layers in the Brecks had germinated, bringing back a variety of aquatic plants, including rare fen pondweed.

"We think we are seeing one of the world's most successful ecological restoration techniques unfold and reveal its true potential," said University College London (UCL) professors Helene Burningham and Carl Sayer.

More fires, taking hold over more months of the year, are causing more carbon to be released into the atmosphere as carbon dioxide.

Fires on peatlands, which are carbon-rich, can almost double global fire-driven carbon emissions. Researchers found that despite accounting for only a quarter of the total UK land area that burns each year, dwarfed by moor and heathland, wildfires that burn peat have caused up to 90% of annual UK fire-driven carbon emissions since 2001 – with emissions spikes in particularly dry years.

Peat only burns when it’s hot and dry enough - conditions that are occurring more often with climate change. The peatlands of Saddleworth Moor in the Peak District, and Flow Country in northern Scotland, have both been affected by huge wildfires in recent years.

n partnership with landowners The Welbeck Estates Company Ltd and contractors Ebsford Environmental Ltd, this ambitious restoration is part of The Three Rivers Restoration Project. The project is a collaboration between the Trust and Severn Trent which aims to deliver a programme of essential measures to improve the water environment in three rivers within the Idle Catchment, for which Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust are the Catchment Hosts. The 3 rivers covered by the project are Rainworth Water, Vicar Water and the Bevercotes Beck. The Trust is being supported in the delivery of the Three Rivers Project by specialist staff from its subsidiary EMEC Ecology.

Vicar Water flows through the country park named after the river and then alongside Clipstone Colliery, owned by The Welbeck Estates Company Ltd. The 600m section undergoing restoration – from the railway bridge to Baulker Lane - was previously heavily modified, with much of it buried in an underground railway culvert. Initial ground works by Ebsford has now exposed the culvert, which hasn’t seen the light of day in around 70 years.

The planned work includes restoring a more natural river channel through ‘deculverting’ and river regrading, introducing berms, riffles, pools and meanders to improve water flow and enhance wildlife habitat. These are in channel features that diversify the hydro-geomorphology of the river, increasing biodiversity opportunities, improve fish passage and increase water quality. In addition to this, creation of floodplains increases water storage capacity and can contribute to flood alleviation and wetland habitats.

Kent Wildlife Trust has issued an appeal for people to stop removing ivy from trees on their sites, following a series of incidents at East Blean Nature Reserve.

The charity’s social media plea to protect the plant has sparked widespread debate, amassing over 750 comments, 600 shares and 1,700 reactions.

Conservationists at Kent Wildlife Trust say that ivy has an “unfair reputation,” with many mistakenly believing it damages trees. In reality, ivy is a vital component of the ecosystem, providing crucial support to wildlife throughout the year.

Plans to cull goats which are said to be disrupting conservation efforts in Dumfries and Galloway is set to take place over the next few months.

Oxygen Conservation, the land owners of where the goats live, say that the plans are necessary to the wider environment, with goats known to try and eat almost anything.

The plans though have been met with anger by protestor Emma Ritchie who is set to set-up a petition to try and stop the cull.

Legislative proposals to help restore nature and protect biodiversity in Scotland have been introduced to Parliament.

The Natural Environment (Scotland) Bill, which will now be considered by MSPs, would place a duty on Ministers to set legally-binding nature restoration targets and will modernise how national parks and deer are managed.

The legislation is a key part of the Scottish Government’s Strategic Framework for Biodiversity and complements the Scottish Biodiversity Strategy and related delivery plans.

The agency said there were 25 incidents of heavy rain washing off farm fields into rivers, roads or homes in January, nearly double the number of incidents reported during the same period in 2024.

It said some previously used methods of preventing erosion no longer work and the window for taking action had become shorter due to climate change.

Farmers are being asked to risk assess their land and install measures to prevent run-off reaching property and watercourses.

The Cornwall Wildlife Trust, which has been collecting data on sightings, said the number had "gone through the roof".

The whales have been spotted in both Watergate Bay and Mawgan Porth.

Bex Allen, marine conservation officer at the trust, said the team have had confirmed sightings of at least five whales across Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly.

Kestrels, weasels, shrews, wood mice and other small mammals had been slowly disappearing from around the River Lea until hundreds of volunteers began rebuilding their ecosystems with piles of logs, artificial food caches and by selectively cutting trees, known as coppicing.

Ian Phillips, an ecologist who has helped lead the river restoration project over three years, said it "feels like it happened almost overnight".

"It was just absolutely amazing to see everything fall into place."

The boss of Rainham Marshes nature reserve has promised the site is "not going anywhere" amidst charity-wide cuts.

Alan Johnson, RSPB area manager for Kent and Essex, has assured that Rainham Marshes will be protected as a reserve in the future after its shop and cafe were scrapped.

These were part of sweeping cuts across the conservation charity, revealed exclusively by the Recorder in October, which put several other nature reserves at risk of complete closure.

However, Mr Johnson called Rainham Marshes a "hyper important" reserve, which will not shut due to it being a "hotspot" for certain bird species and other wildlife.

An amateur wildlife photographer has captured incredible pictures of a humpback whale off Newquay Cornwall.

Adrian Langdon, from Wadebridge, spotted the impressive mammal near Watergate Bay last Thursday (Feb 13).

He says: "I was on board a boat surveying the coast as part of the Cornwall Seal Group Research Trust regular seal and marine life surveys.

An MP has warned of an “environmental disaster” after around 4,000 litres of diesel leaked from a bus depot storage tank in Croydon on Tuesday, leaving wildlife covered in oil.

The oil is said to have entered the River Wandle in Thornton Heath and has impacted wildlife and water quality from Wallington to Wandsworth.

Birds have been coated in oil, struggling to clean themselves and survive in the contaminated water, according to the Liberal Democrats.

Experts have raised fears for the seals at England’s largest colony after four were found to have died after having been infected with bird flu.

Government scientists are investigating to find out whether the seals died after scavenging from the corpses of infected birds.

Four seals on the north Norfolk coast were found dead on the shoreline and tested positive for bird flu. Two of these were at Blakeney Point, home to the largest seal colony in England with about 4,000 pups born each year.

Ramsar is an international convention that gives accreditation to areas that need protection because they are particularly important to birds and other species.

The areas accredited are the Minquiers, Ecrehous, Pater Nosters and the south-east coast.

Steve Luce, Minister for the Environment, said the government would take its "responsibilities seriously" and it would be "more involved" with the management of the sites.