UK Nature and Environment

Careful design could help new woodlands thrive in areas where beavers are present, according to a new report.

With ambitious woodland expansion targets in Scotland and a growing beaver population, the overlap between beaver territories and woodland creation schemes is expected to become more common.

The research by NatureScot and the Beaver Trust draws on international expertise, as well as case studies in Scotland, to make recommendations for how to establish resilient new woodlands in areas where beavers live.

Beavers typically forage within 20m of a river or loch shore and are known to be choosy eaters with a preference for certain species, including willow, aspen, hazel, birch and rowan.

Offshore wind development is essential and urgent, but this emerging industry needs to be ‘nature positive’ from the get-go

Here in Scotland, we have a tendency to think that spectacular and important wildlife is for other parts of the world to enjoy and worry about. Australia has the Great Barrier Reef, Africa has lions, Antarctica has penguins... What do we have?

Well, Scotland is a mecca for the world’s seabirds. From the spectacular and riotous gannet colonies to the colourful and cute puffins nesting in their burrows, we are fortunate enough to share our seas and coasts with enormous colonies of globally important seabirds. If you haven’t yet enjoyed the spectacle of a colony at the height of the breeding season, get yourself on a boat around the Bass Rock now!

Thames Water is being investigated by the water regulator for England and Wales, Ofwat, after the struggling company delayed environmental improvement schemes.

The investigation was launched after the Guardian revealed that the UK’s largest water company intentionally diverted millions of pounds pledged for environmental clean-ups towards other costs, including bonuses and dividends.

Ofwat opened an enforcement case into Thames Water to decide whether the company breached its obligations in failing to deliver 100 out of 812 schemes it was supposed to put in place between 2020 and 2025.

The government’s wildlife watchdog for England is failing to halt the decline of nature after a sharp fall in the number of new places given top protection, according to campaigners.

On average over the past 15 years, Natural England has designated four new sites of special scientific interest (SSSIs) each year. SSSIs are nationally or internationally important places for rare wildlife and habitats, meet strict criteria and are then usually protected from almost all possible development.

But in the past three financial years up to and including 2023-24, Natural England has designated just two new sites.

A new study has shown that overall there have been increases in the ability of nature to contribute to our wellbeing, with marked improvements in agricultural habitats and the number of people spending time in nature, compared to 2000 levels.

The biennial Natural Capital Asset Index (NCAI) looks at how Scotland’s stock of habitats and ecosystems – the country’s natural capital - provides social, environmental and economic benefits to people, tracking annual changes in our ecosystems’ abilities to contribute to the health of Scotland’s food, water, air and communities. The Index reports on areas of improvement and deterioration, taking in a range of factors like aesthetic and cultural value, air purification, carbon sequestration and timber resources. In total, calculations track 38 indicators across seven Scottish habitat types: coastal; inland surface water; mires, bogs and fen; grasslands; heathland; woodland; agricultural and cultivated lands.

The 2025 NCAI shows that the ability of agricultural habitats to benefit people has been improving since 2018. This is largely due to efforts by farmers to reduce their impacts on the environment through participation in agri-environmental schemes and reducing the use of fertiliser and pesticides. These actions taken by farmers directly improve the ability of agricultural and cultivated habitats to deliver benefits to people across Scotland.

A new grant scheme has been launched to help plant more trees and hedgerows across Westmorland and Furness.

The Community Tree and Hedgerow Planting Grant is part of the area's One Tree per Resident (OTpR) project.

This initiative, led by Westmorland and Furness Council, aims to plant a quarter of a million trees over five years.

Two fisherman have rescued a humpback whale found entangled in creel fishing gear off the coast of Skye.

The creel fishermen had been fishing further south when they received a report of the entangled whale on Sunday.

A single rope had become anchored around the tail of the humpback.

Beavers can play a role in tackling flooding, a new assessment from the Environment Agency on how nature can help address floods has said.

The updated directory summarises the latest evidence for the flood and coastal erosion benefits of 17 natural measures – from river restoration to woodlands in catchments and along water courses, and managing saltmarshes and sand dunes.

The Environment Agency said it is “mainstreaming” the use of natural flood management alongside the use of traditional engineered defences, with a £25 million programme as part of the £2.65 billion two-year flood defences package recently announced by the Government.

One year after Biodiversity Net Gain was introduced to ensure that new developments leave the natural environment in a better state than they found it, The Wildlife Trusts are proving that restoring nature alongside development is entirely possible.

The Wildlife Trusts are set to be one of the largest providers of Biodiversity Net Gain with five active sites now registered, and over 70 sites proposed across 46 local planning authorities – and they aim to raise the bar by setting a gold standard approach. This means Wildlife Trusts are creating new strategic areas of wildlife habitats that are supporting large-scale nature recovery projects. These wild places are protected for nature and communities in perpetuity – well beyond the mandatory 30 years.

Additionally, wherever possible Wildlife Trusts are encouraging developers to go beyond the minimum 10% gain for wildlife and striving to deliver at least a 20% gain. It is widely acknowledged that 10% is the bare minimum needed to maintain the status quo for nature. Given the catastrophic declines in nature over recent decades, clearly, greater ambition is needed – and it is vital to avoid damaging wild areas that are good for nature in the first place.

The Conservation Volunteers (TCV) and the Mayor of London are calling on Londoners to join TCV’s I Dig Trees, which is a free community tree-planting programme and the largest of its kind in the UK.

This tree planting season, the Mayor is giving away an additional 70,000 free trees to Londoners. These trees will help mitigate the impacts of climate change, create habitats for wildlife, and enhance the beauty of London’s urban environment. Trees play a crucial role in increasing biodiversity by providing habitats for various species of birds, insects, and other wildlife.

Since 2016, the Mayor of London has funded the planting of more than 570,000 new trees, providing essential shade, boosting wellbeing, and enhancing the city’s resilience to climate change.

Join our new survey of Nightjars, Woodlarks, Dartford Warblers and a number of other important heathland species in 2025.

The Heathland Birds Survey will survey all the Nightjars, Woodlarks and Dartford Warblers, in all habitats, throughout the UK and Channel Islands. The survey aims to cover all the main occupied sites as well as surrounding suitable habitats where these species may have expanded more recently. It will also record a number of other important heathland bird species.

The previous population estimates made for Woodlark, Nightjar and Dartford Warbler are now almost 20 years old, based on data from surveys undertaken at a time when all three species had undergone a substantial increase in both population size and range. Both Woodlark and Dartford Warbler were at their most northerly recorded UK breeding range extents, while Nightjar was regaining ground in northern England and even into Scotland.

A team from Bangor University conducted the study amid a growing concern that increasing deer populations are negatively impacting the health and regeneration of UK woodlands.

However, according to the “surprising” findings published in the scientific journal Ecological Solutions & Evidence, deer may in fact be beneficial under some circumstances.

The researchers discovered that the deer are eating large quantities of bramble, which could serve to reduce that plant’s growth and prevent it from outcompeting the saplings of vulnerable tree and shrub species.

Woods rich in the sights, sounds and smells of nature can be a “prescription” for wellbeing – but there are major disparities in being able to access them, a study shows.

Some 90% of 10,000 people questioned for a study backed by the Woodland Trust agreed that woodland biodiversity has a positive impact on their wellbeing.

Researchers from the University of Kent who conducted the study said a rich variety of wildlife and sensory experiences they deliver for visitors, from birdsong to the colours in a wood, the sounds of the wind in the trees and even the feeling of the ground underfoot, were critical to boosting wellbeing.

A HERD of wild boar have been released near a Highlands rewilding estate not far from where four lynx were illegally dumped last month, according to reports.

The group of pigs were photographed in a woodland area near the village of Insh in the Highlands, which is about 12 miles from Kingussie in the Cairngorms National Park, and within about a mile from Dell of Killiehuntly where four young lynx were illegally released in January.

According to the Scotsman, experts said the herd appears to be genetically closer to wild boar than domestic pigs.

A “pell-mell battle” was how Vice-Admiral Lord Nelson predicted the British would triumph at Trafalgar. And on 21 October 1805, as they attacked the combined Spanish and French fleets off the coast of Cádiz, he achieved exactly that. Going against the grain of traditional naval warfare, Nelson split his ships into two parallel lines. His plan was simple: HMS Victory, his flagship, leading the windward column, was to smash through the middle of the French lines, while the other column would rout the enemy’s rear. It worked perfectly, but at a terrible cost. Victory lost 51 of her 821 crew during the battle (11 others later died from their wounds), including Nelson himself. The ship, too, very nearly succumbed. Cannon fire pockmarked the hull.

At one stage, says Andrew Baines, an executive director at the National Museum of the Royal Navy (NMRN), she was flooding at a rate of one foot of water every hour. Only her sturdy build – with more than 2,000 English oak trees used to construct her hull alone – somehow kept her afloat. After being towed to Gibraltar for repairs, HMS Victory returned to Britain that December, bearing Nelson’s body on board.

Nearly 220 years after the battle, HMS Victory is being restored in a £45 million project led by the NMRN in Portsmouth. However, it would no doubt surprise her former commander, who once described the French as “thieves, murderers, oppressors and infidels”, that Britain has been forced to turn to the old enemy to supply the ship’s wood. Restorers require about 200 high-grade oak planks on either side of the hull, which are up to 12 metres long. Despite scouring the British countryside, they have not been able to find anything suitable. Instead, the team expects to source the bulk from France. “There is a certain irony to it,” Baines admits.

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Keir Starmer will do huge damage to the global fight against climate change if he gives in to political pressure and allows the development of a giant new oilfield in the North Sea, according to an analysis by the country’s leading environmental institute.

Chaired by Nicholas Stern, the Grantham Institute on Climate Change will fire a warning shot to ministers not to give the green light to the Rosebank and Jackdaw fields, after suggestions that the Treasury is now in favour of allowing drilling to maximise economic growth.

Lord Stern authored the pioneering 2006 review on climate change that helped to create national and international momentum for a global deal on combating climate change and is regarded as one of the leading experts in the field.

Hedgerows increase soil carbon storage by almost half compared to grassland, according to research from the University of Leeds.

The team of scientists analysed soil samples from farms in Yorkshire, Cumbria and West Sussex, to find out how carbon storage under hedgerows compared to that found in adjacent grass fields.

The research found that soil under hedges stored on average 40 tonnes more carbon per hectare than grassland.

The RSPB is celebrating a highly successful year for Bearded Tit on its reserves in 2024.

Last year, no fewer than 120 pairs of Bearded Tits nested at the charity's Blacktoft Sands reserve in East Yorkshire, producing some 500 fledged youngsters – more than double the success rate of previous years. Back in 2002, the reserve population had declined to 45 pairs. This recovery has been achieved thanks to what the charity describes as "meticulous reedbed managment".

Nationally, Bearded Tit numbers have increased from 400 pairs four decades ago to around 700 pairs in 2021.

A wildlife trust is calling for volunteers to help it plant rare seeds to boost wildflower numbers.

Cumbria Wildlife Trust said it wanted to grow 40,000 plants across South Lakeland over the next two years.

The charity's grassland and pollinator team manager Tanya St. Pierre said the project would "protect our vanishing species of wildflowers".

She said volunteers would have many opportunities to help, "from sowing seeds in our nursery to planting the tiny plug plants out in the Cumbrian landscape".

UK conservation goals insufficient to save ants and bees, says expert

Science committee chair calls for monitored species to include groups such as moths, lice and hymenoptera Guardian staff Sat 8 Feb 2025 07.00 GMT

The UK’s targets to stop the destruction of the natural world are so inadequate that they could be met even if all the country’s bees, wasps, ants and moths were to go extinct, the government has been warned.

Natural England’s red list and the government’s biodiversity indicators are used to measure changes in species abundance and as the baseline measures for targets to halt species extinction.

However, the government has admitted the lists have critical gaps as they do not account for large groups such as moths, lice and hymenoptera (bees, wasps, and ants).

The planting of 60,000 saplings will create a community space as well as support research into the benefits of trees on the environment, a leading university has said.

The new 60 hectare (148-acre) woodland on land at Silsoe in Bedfordshire, is being created by Cranfield University and the Forest of Marston Vale Trust over the next two years.

It will be used as a teaching tool and resource for "ongoing research into the production and cultural benefits from trees, agroforestry, biodiversity, soil quality and carbon capture," the university said.

The population of corncrakes on Rathlin Island is being "positively" maintained with the help of an annual nettle dig, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) has said.

Since the 1970s, the corncrake population has hugely declined leading to them becoming a red listed species in the UK and Ireland.

However, the Giving Corncrake a Home Project encouraged the bird to return to Rathlin Island in 2014 and since then, up to five corncrakes have been spotted.

A rare butterfly that is in decline is "now stable and expanding" in a county due to work carried out by volunteers.

Network Rail said a project involving the Butterfly Conservation and Chiltern Rangers wildlife groups was helping to protect the Duke of Burgundy species in Buckinghamshire.

The groups have collaborated to create suitable environments along the tracks of the West Coast Main Line.

Twenty years ago, the Hunting Act 2004 came into force — a landmark piece of legislation that sought to end the cruel and outdated practice of fox hunting. This was a victory for compassion, a moment when public opinion and political will combined to take a stand against needless suffering that hunting wild mammals with dogs entails.

Yet, two decades on, we find ourselves still fighting the same battle. While the Hunting Act was undoubtably a huge step forward, it has not been the silver bullet we had hoped for. The reality is that hunting with hounds persists across England and Wales. Loopholes, such as the exemption for ‘research and observation’, continue to be exploited by organised hunts, and the invention of so-called ‘trail hunting’ abuses weaknesses within the law to allow hunts to continue as they did before the ban.

This deception must end. The British public overwhelmingly supports a ban on hunting, and yet those determined to flout the law do so with shocking impunity. Too often, we see reports of foxes being chased and killed, with those responsible escaping justice. Increasingly, law enforcement has recognised the weaknesses of the Hunting Act too, senior police officers have said: “The Hunting Act is not working effectively, and illegal hunting is still common practice”. Even the UN has urged exemptions within the law to be reviewed.

The Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust’s annual Big Farmland Bird Count (BFBC) kicks off on Friday 7 February, and is a fantastic opportunity to help out wildlife conservation efforts, build stronger rural communities and give the whole family a chance to see our beautiful countryside and learn more about our wild birds. 

Farmers and land managers up and down the country are encouraged to count and make note of all the wild bird species on their farms, in the space of 30 minutes on one day between 7 February and 23 February. This annual count plays a laudable role in raising awareness for and celebrating the importance of farms, farmers and land managers in wild bird conservation efforts. 

If you don’t happen to be a farmer or land manager but still want to get involved, then it is recommended to contact local farms and ask if they would be happy for you to take part in the count on their farmland. The more people that help out and the greater the area covered in the count, the better.