UK Nature and Environment

Two spinal cords, a dozen ribs and a hollowed-out head lie next to a peak called “rock of the eagle” in Gaelic. These are the remains of a pair of three-month-old lambs. It’s muggy, and maggots and foxes will make light work of the remaining skin and bone. In a few weeks, it’ll be as if it never happened.

Ruaridh MacKay, who has been farming here at Stronmagachan Farm in Inveraray for 25 years, picks up one of the spinal cords: sodden and slimy from successive fronts of rain, every morsel of flesh has been excavated. He was expecting to take these lambs to market next month.

All around are miles of sheep-grazed hills, like a giant lawn spun inside a tumble dryer. The valley is bowl-shaped and gets steeper the higher it rises, finishing in sheer rock. The sheep that live up here are bred for these conditions – both farmer and sheep have long lineages. Farming on these hills has changed little in 150 years.

Bee-killing pesticides have been found in 85% of tested rivers in England, an analysis of Government figures has found.

Green groups looked at Environment Agency data on neonicotinoid pesticides in river sites tested between 2023 to 2024.

They also found that the proportion of rivers affected appears to have increased from 79% during the testing period of 2020 to 2022.

We are into December and the solstice is not so far away, so it is time for our seasonal banner competition.

So please comment below with a link to any photos that you have taken or artwork that you have made that you would like to be considered for the banner. Let’s say a maximum of three items per person; photos that you have taken or art you have created and have the rights to; something suitable for the subject of the community: maybe a natural landscape, or wildlife, or volunteers working for the environment (as long as you have the permission of anyone identifiable in the photo) or something along those lines. And preferably, but not necessarily, “Winter” themed.

I’m not absolutely clear about the optimum dimensions etc for a banner, but the size and shape of the section that appears varies with the browser dimensions and appears differently again in the sidebar, so keep that in mind. Otherwise the larger the better.

I’ll leave this post stickied until midnight on Sat Dec 14th for submissions then put up a voting thread for the following week with all the submissions that we have by then and then decide the winner on the 20th. It’ll basically be on upvotes, but I reserve the right to disqualify any ‘Naturey McNatureface’ ones or others that I really don’t think are suitable. The winner will become the banner until the spring equinox and the next competition, and obviously we’ll make it clear in the sidebar who should be credited for that banner.

An award-winning photographer has captured a stunning image of an orca closing in on an otter in Lerwick harbour.

Ryan Leith shared the “unforgettable experience” on social media and with The Shetland Times.

It was taken yesterday (Friday) morning as the 64 pod of orcas pursued an otter from the Loofa Baa to the North Ness, where Mr Leith was stood watching at the time.

Hundreds of trees are set to be planted on Oxfordshire's streets this planting season.

The move comes as Oxfordshire County Council's Tree Service looks to bolster the county's urban tree population, with the aim of improving public safety, enhancing air quality, and providing better habitats for wildlife.

Over the last two years, more than 800 standard trees have been planted on highways across the county - a number which is set to be matched this planting season.

A charity which owns part of an ancient Derbyshire woodland has bought an extra 8.26 acres of land for the community to benefit from.

Grith Pioneers has owned 100 acres of Shining Cliff Wood in Ambergate since 1932 and successfully bid at auction for a section of farmland adjacent to the current site.

Michelle Kershaw-Wright, trustee of the charity, said they managed to raise £103,000 and bought the new land for £102,000.

A charity wants to create a "lifesaving" winter wetland area for wading birds that are in decline.

The Countryside Regeneration Trust (CRT) wants to raise £8,000 to create the space at Lark Rise Farm, near Barton, in Cambridgeshire.

Another wetland habitat will also be created at the CRT’s Bere Marsh Farm in Dorset.

Saplings from the felled Sycamore Gap tree are being given to charities, groups and individuals as "trees of hope".

A charity set up to remember murdered schoolgirl Holly Newton in Hexham, Northumberland, and The Rob Burrow Centre for Motor Neurone Disease in Leeds are among 49 recipients across the UK.

Each sapling represents a foot in height of the tree, which stood in a dip in Hadrian's Wall and was cut down in September 2023.

Red Squirrels Northern England (RSNE) has published the results of its annual red and grey squirrel survey, which once again confirms that red squirrels can still be found across Cumbria, Northumberland, north Yorkshire, Lancashire and Merseyside.

The monitoring programme is the only scientific evidence base that helps measure whether the collective red squirrel conservation effort is making a difference in the north of England.

Each year the programme aims to survey around 250 sites, this year (2024) 180 people got involved and, without their help, completion of the survey would simply not be possible.

Restoration work has begun to "bring Pevensey Levels back to life as one of the great biodiverse wetlands of the UK".

Sussex Wildlife Trust is working with National Highways on a £600,000 Network for Nature project which aims to "create an archipelago of wetland habitat".

This would provide "stepping stones" for species to move through the landscape, which stretches across 3,500 hectares (13.5 square miles) between Eastbourne, Hailsham and Bexhill, said head of nature reserves, Jamie Parsons.

Sniffer dogs are usually found looking for contraband at airports and train stations, but the UK government is now dispatching trained hounds to find forest-harming pests.

A dog has been used for the first time in the UK to successfully identify tree disease. Researchers from Forest Research used a trained spanador – a cocker spaniel labrador cross – to find the tree pathogen Phytophthora ramorum.

Six-year-old Ivor the dog achieved a 89% successful first-time detection rate of the pest. This is an important finding as the disease is a menace to UK forests; spread by rain, the fungal-like organism causes the death of a wide range of trees and shrubs and has led to thousands of hectares of felling around the UK.

Ancient woodland management techniques have been used to tackle climate change and increase biodiversity at an important Anglo-Saxon archaeological site.

Since introducing coppicing and thinning at Sutton Hoo in Suffolk the site has seen an increase in wildlife and wildflowers, including the endangered Nightingale songbird.

Sutton Hoo is thought to be the final resting place of King Raedwald, who ruled East Anglia in the 7th Century.

The trust said by also reusing the felled timber it was able to reduce its carbon footprint.

A blue mussel may not be the first thing that springs to mind when it comes to Northern Ireland's water quality heroes.

But for scientist Matt Service at the Agri-Food and Biosciences Institute (AFBI), they are "little ecosystem water treatment plants on their own".

In Belfast Lough where the mussels are cultivated, regular sewage spills are threatening the environment, the economy and public health, according to a report by NI Water.

Officials say the lough is facing a crisis if investment in sewage infrastructure is not increased.

A new Tree Planting Taskforce has been launched today to oversee the planting of millions of trees across the UK (Thursday 28 November).

The Taskforce, chaired by the forestry ministers from the four nations, brought together representatives from key arm’s-length bodies and delivery partners from across the UK.

Top of the agenda at the meeting was how to drive forward the UK’s tree planting in order to meet our collective net zero targets, as part of the Government’s critical mission to make the UK a clean and green energy superpower. 

A petition calling for stronger laws to protect iconic trees has been handed to the government, the UK's largest woodland conservation charity has confirmed.

More than 100,000 signatures pledging support for the Woodland Trust's Living Legends campaign are in a box delivered to 10 Downing Street at noon on Monday 18 November. Trust campaigns manager Adele Benson said passing the 100,000 mark is a "significant milestone", particularly with National Tree Week beginning on Saturday 23 November.

"We're sending a powerful message to the government which shows the strength of feeling for protecting the UK's oldest and most special trees," she said.

Works have begun on a 2.5km (1.5 miles) stretch of river to restore its ecosystem back to its original state.

A revitalising programme has started on the River Ver, which is a rare chalk stream and flows through St Albans, Hertfordshire, which will develop its surrounding environments and create new wetlands for wildlife and biodiversity.

St Albans City and District Council has been working on the project in partnership with the Environment Agency and Affinity Water.

A solar-powered wildlife camera has captured the moment a grey seal pup was born.

The birth was live-streamed from Blakeney Point in Norfolk, which is home to the UK's largest grey seal colony.

Tracey Sizeland, area ranger for the National Trust said the camera was set up to "enable people to enjoy this amazing wildlife spectacle without causing disturbance to the seals".

Early indications are that record numbers of seal pups will be born on Blakeney Point this winter.

Wildlife experts have said there have been no further signs of a mouse in one of the Isles of Scilly.

The Isles of Scilly Wildlife Trust said it had conducted an "intensive incursion response" with the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) since 31 October, when probable signs of a mouse had been found on St Agnes.

Mice and rats were previously eradicated from the island as part of measures to protect its population of storm petrels as they would be considered likely to eat the birds' eggs, the RSPB said.

The trust said it would increase monitoring and reduce its use of rodenticide until the new year when it planned to stop the operation.

Scotland’s leading conservation charity, the Scottish Wildlife Trust, has welcomed the Scottish Government’s new Biodiversity Strategy and Delivery Plans. However, they have also warned that despite some good ambitions, the Government must go further to meet its own stated targets, calling for more action and funding to support work on the ground by local government, charities and communities.

Recent collaborative work that Edinburgh University and the Scottish Wildlife Trust carried out showed that there is real urgency required in tackling the biodiversity crisis and that acting early enhances resilience, whereas failure to invest in nature now will only cost us more in the long run. Simply put: by acting now for nature, we minimise long-term costs and keep our options open for future decisions.

Proposed cuts to England’s most beautiful landscapes pose an “existential threat”, the managers of the National Landscapes Association have warned.

These 46 regions, including the Chilterns, the Cotswolds, the Wye Valley and the north Pennines, used to be known as areas of outstanding natural beauty but were renamed this year as “national landscapes”. They cover 15% of England, including 20% of the coastline.

However, those who run the parks have said the environment secretary, Steve Reed, has given no assurances about the budget for the national landscapes. The day-to-day spending budget of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) will be cut by 2% in the financial year 2025-26. It is understood this will be spread across departments, and the national landscapes teams have been told to expect a 12% cut.

They are rich, damp, dappled places of twisted branches, vivid green mosses and lichens, important homes for rare birds, bats and insects, and steeped in myths and tales.

But a report from a group of conservation organisations has concluded that the remaining pockets of temperate, or Celtic, rainforests of Wales are in a parlous condition and is calling for urgent action from the Welsh government.

The newly created Alliance for Wales’ Rainforests (AWR) says only about one in five of the 68 sites it has surveyed are in good condition and none could be rated as in very good condition. Invasive species such as rhododendron and ivy are present at 70% of the sites, with many of them suffering from insensitive grazing and air pollution.

Yorkshire Wildlife Trust (YWT) has bought a farm in the heart of one of its nature reserves.

It said the purchase of Dryham Farm, within North Cave Wetlands near Hull, was a "once in a lifetime opportunity to secure an incredible space". The fee was not disclosed.

Managers said it would help them plan for the future while minimising disruption to wildlife.

Butterfly Conservation has launched a dedicated programme to save one of Wales’s most endangered species.

The charity is training dozens of people, leading survey expeditions and working with landowners to improve habitat for the stunning Marsh Fritillary.

The charity has been awarded £174,000 from the Welsh Government's Nature Networks Fund (round three) to create a Wales Marsh Fritillary Recovery Partnership, and has employed a dedicated member of staff, John Hitchens, as its Wales Marsh Fritillary Recovery Project Officer.

The partnership will be made up of environmental charities, statutory bodies, volunteers, landowners and managers who can share their knowledge and work together to help the vulnerable species.

Water quality has been designated as poor in a record number of bathing areas this year after 16 rivers were included in summer testing for harmful bacteria, figures reveal.

The push to clean up England’s rivers has led to an increase in demand for bathing water status at river locations across the country. Rivers suffer from water company sewage pollution and agricultural pollution, and the results show river water quality is distinctly worse than that of coastal bathing sites. The results come after sewage pollution into rivers by water companies reached record levels last year.

This year, 16 river areas were designated as bathing water sites out 27 new areas, which meant they were tested for harmful bacteria, E coli and intestinal enterococci.

The UK’s endangered red squirrel population could have an unlikely savior – an AI detection program.

Genysys Engine, an AI research company in Northern Ireland, has developed a program which identifies red and gray squirrels with 97 percent accuracy.

Red squirrels are native to the UK and have been there for thousands of years, whereas their gray counterparts were brought to the country from the US in the 19th century. Both species compete for the same resources and spread diseases, including squirrel pox, which is fatal for the reds but not grays, and so the red population has dramatically dropped.