UK Nature and Environment

A “rescue mission” for native crayfish is under way in Northumberland after a population were found dead with mysterious patches on their shells.

The Environment Agency is working to save the internationally important species of native white-clawed crayfish in the River Wansbeck by searching for females with eggs to be taken and reared in a hatchery.

At least 100 individuals of the endangered species, which is the UK’s only native freshwater crayfish, have been found dead since the end of September and environment experts are perplexed as to what is causing the “concerning” mass die-off.

A forest is marking its 30th anniversary after the first plan to "bring forests nearer to people" was developed for parts of Merseyside and Cheshire.

Millions of trees have been planted as part of the Mersey Forest project, bringing a host of benefits for people and wildlife in urban areas.

In the last 18 months alone about 260 hectares of new woodland have been established on plots of land throughout the Liverpool City region and Cheshire - the equivalent of about 400 football pitches.

I just thought it worth noting that as far as the UK goes, tonight's full moon - a supermoon - which, at this time of year is known as the beaver moon according to some traditions, will be the most beavery beaver moon for 4 centuries, given the number of reintroductions and kits born around the UK over the last 12 months (building on decades of previous work towards these reintroductions, of course).

A project to restore 213 hectares of rare coastal habitat in County Durham has been launched with nearly £1m of funding.

Durham County Council has partnered with the National Trust and Durham Wildlife Trust to deliver the Coastal Grasslands Reconnected Project.

The project, which has received £975,000 from the Government’s Species Survival Fund, will create and restore the wildflower-rich Magnesian Limestone grasslands along the county’s coastline from Noses Point, near Seaham, to Horden.

Fifty years of change on iconic limestone pavements has revealed mixed fortunes for one of the most distinctive landscapes in the UK.

The landscapes - which will be familiar to visitors to the Yorkshire Dales and fans of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows film – have, in many places, seen reductions of specialist species and more common less desirable species become more abundant.

However, it is not all bad news as the picture is very mixed across the UK’s areas of limestone pavement with some areas increasing in plant biodiversity.

The colours, bangs and excitement of fireworks thrill many of us but what looks pretty comes with a pollution penalty, harming air and rivers.

A network of three UK university research observatories have revealed the complexity of the unique air pollution that fireworks create.

Guy Fawkes fireworks and bonfires are rarely confined to the marking of the gunpowder plot on 5 November, as often people celebrate early. This year peaks in particle pollution were seen on the preceding Saturday evening, especially across the West Midlands and London, perhaps due to the combination of Diwali and Guy Fawkes fireworks events.

In most places the worst air pollution was measured on the night of 5 November, reaching level seven on the government’s 10-point scale across Yorkshire. Notable peaks in particle pollution were also seen across Merseyside, as well as north-east England, Worthing, Norwich, Bristol and Cardiff.

A group of UK nature charities have written to Rt Hon Angela Rayner MP and Rt Hon Steve Reed OBE MP calling for action to protect the UK’s chalk streams in planning reforms.

The letter is headed by Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust and signed by various river, water and wildlife charities including The Rivers Trust, Angling Trust, River Action, Wild Trout Trust and The Wildlife Trusts. The letter leads on from the March for Clean Water earlier this month, when over 15,000 people including charities, campaigners and celebrities gathered in London calling for Government action to improve the health of rivers, lakes and seas.

The charities writing today urge the UK Government to integrate enhanced protections for chalk streams into reforms to the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF). During the Government’s consultation on proposed changes to the NPPF (30th July – 24th September), more than 700 people urged action on protecting chalk streams.

Wildlife charities have condemned a decision by Scotland’s nature conservation agency to dilute a new law designed to combat the illegal killing of birds of prey.

NatureScot, a government agency, has decided to greatly reduce the area of land affected by a new licensing regime for grouse moors after legal threats from shooting estates and land owners.

Campaign groups including the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, the League Against Cruel Sports (LACS) and Revive Scotland have said they are furious, and have called on the Scottish government to close the loophole urgently.

A unique collaboration between the Met Office and The Wildlife Trusts has driven a series of projects examining the impacts of weather and climate change on wildlife and their habitats across the UK.

Dr Debbie Hemming is a Met Office scientist who oversaw the projects. She said: “A couple of years ago Met Office staff voted for The Wildlife Trusts to become our corporate charity.

“Building on this success and popularity of this relationship many of our colleagues – including climate scientists – realised they could use their expertise and time to help understand more about the impacts of weather and climate change on threatened species.

The planned reintroduction of beavers to a county after 400 years has been delayed by "extreme flooding".

It had been hoped that a £180,000 habitat for the dam building creatures in the Nene Wetlands nature reserve, near Rushden in Northamptonshire, would be completed last month.

But the local Wildlife Trust, which is working with Anglian Water to release a family of beavers into a new enclosure at Delta Pit, said it was now aiming to complete work "before Christmas".

Natural England is pleased to announce the successful launch of a pioneering habitat restoration project aimed at supporting breeding seabirds in the Solent. The initiative, part of the broader Solent Seascape Project, focuses on creating vital nesting habitats for terns and other seabirds.

The project aims to provide suitable nesting sites for four species of terns - common, sandwich, little, and roseate - and other breeding seabirds. Initial trials with a single shingle-topped raft in April 2024 proved successful, attracting the first common terns to successfully breed on the national nature reserve for over 20 years. The new shingle islands are expected to benefit both breeding seabirds in spring and summer, and overwintering wading birds.

A “unique” site for nightingales and other wildlife on farmland left to go wild decades ago has been saved following a £1.5 million appeal.

Conservationists are celebrating the success of saving Strawberry Hill in Bedfordshire, which saw nearly £500,000 raised by more than 3,800 individual public donations plus a substantial private donation and contributions from trusts and funds.

The previous owner of the 377-acre site stopped farming his land 37 years ago – decades before “rewilding” became a trend.

The UK government has admitted in court that the country's largest untapped oilfield, Rosebank off Shetland, was approved unlawfully.

The move came during a case brought by climate campaigners against both Rosebank and the Jackdaw gas field in the North Sea.

At the Court of Session in Edinburgh Chris Pirie KC, for the government, accepted that assessments did not include “the effects on climate of the combustion of oil and gas to be extracted from the fields.”

Five UK research projects have each received a share of £14.5 million under phase two of the Transforming Land Use for Net Zero, Nature and People programme.

The UK’s efforts to achieve net zero emissions by 2050 have been significantly boosted thanks to a £14.5 million investment by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) and government partners.

This latest funding marks phase two of the Transforming Land Use for Net Zero, Nature and People programme (LUNZ).

It supports five ambitious research projects that aim to revolutionise agricultural practices, land use change and soil health in the pursuit of a more sustainable future.

A new report published today has revealed the potentially devastating consequences Scotland could face if accelerated action is not taken to protect and restore nature.

The report, titled “Act now, save later”, is a collaboration between the Scottish Wildlife Trust and The University of Edinburgh’s Centre for Sustainable Forests and Landscapes, and was funded by the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation.

It examines two potential scenarios of what Scotland could look like in 2045, depending on how much funding and support is given to nature conservation. These scenarios are based on desk-based research and information discussed at a workshop with stakeholders working in the fields of economics, biodiversity and wider environmental issues.

The latest update from Nature's Calendar, the Woodland Trust’s citizen science project, suggests knock-on effects of heavy rainfall earlier in the year.

The effects of a wet spring may be extending from bees and butterflies to birds, with data suggesting that fruits are scarcer than usual. After 2023’s bumper hawthorn berry crop, numbers have dropped significantly this year, and the hedgerows are looking much less inviting for hungry wildlife.

According to Nature's Calendar data, hawthorn berries have now hit their lowest numbers. As have elderberries, which are scoring just 2.8 on the fruit scale, comfortably below their annual average of 3.66.

Other species such as ash, ivy and oak are also showing their lowest fruit scores since current records began in 2001.

Wild bird numbers in the UK are continuing to fall despite government promises to halt nature decline by 2030.

Data released by the government on Tuesday shows that over the past five years, all bird species have faced population decline after suffering from habitat loss, pesticide use, climate breakdown and bird flu. Overall, bird species have declined in number UK-wide by 2% and in England by 7% in the five years since 2018.

Faring the worst are farmland birds, which have declined in number severely – by about 61% over the long term (since 1970) and 9% in the short term (the five years 2018-2023) – and woodland birds, whose numbers have fallen by about 35% over the long term and 10% in the short term.

Contractors who will clear up 35,000 tonnes of dumped waste from a Kent woodland have been appointed.

The waste from illegal fly-tipping in Hoads Wood, near Ashford, covers a 100x60m area and is 4m deep in some spots.

Campaigners had threatened the Environment Agency with legal action in August unless they urgently cleared the site following a ministerial directive in May.

cross-posted from: https://feddit.uk/post/19859084

A £250m bypass planned to go through a Merseyside country park has been scrapped in the budget.

The proposal for a dual carriageway through Rimrose Valley Country Park in south Sefton was first announced in 2017 to improve access to the Port of Liverpool.

In budget documents released today, the Transport Secretary said the A5036 Princess Way scheme would not progress as it was “unfunded and unaffordable”.

Bootle’s Labour MP Peter Dowd, whose constituency includes the port, said: "Rimrose Valley is a green lung for my constituents and the last thing we wanted was a road to be built through it."

He added: "We now have to ensure that the work to develop a long term, environmentally sustainable alternative continues."

Great British nature is in trouble. From polluted waterways to the threat of invasive species, Britain is one of the most nature depleted countries in the world. And yet native species are receiving help from heroic conservation projects restoring habitats, educating communities and even reintroducing species.

23 native species conservation projects, undertaken by British zoos and aquariums, have been shortlisted for a prestigious national award in recognition of their heroic efforts. The Great British Wildlife Restoration seeks to shine a light on conservation going on all around us, with a winner depending on the votes of Members of Parliament and the House of Lords.

The competition shows a huge diversity in the types of conservation going on in Britain. They include preventing the extinction of Wales’ rarest tree, reintroducing harvest mice in Northumberland, the creation of nesting sites for swifts in Hertfordshire and even the breeding of medicinal leeches in Scotland.

The call to action – led by Groundwork, The King’s (formerly Prince’s) Trust, Mission Diverse, Disability Rights UK and Youth Environmental Service – sets out the need to ensure equity in the transition to a greener economy, through the creation of entry level green jobs that help tackle the climate and nature crises.

The call is made in ‘Force of Nature – Reversing Nature’s Decline and Promoting Equity in the Green Transition’, a publication written by the five charities and endorsed by a wide range of key nature-sector organisations including RSPB, the National Trust, Wildlife & Countryside Link, WWF-UK and Bumblebee Conservation Trust.

A key ask for central and local government is the prioritisation of waged work placements within national employment support programmes and regional plans for skills and growth. The document also recommends that the creation of a ‘National Nature Service’ should be a priority for the Labour government, through paid environmental work placements for all young people, similar to the scheme being progressed by a coalition of organisations across Wales*.

Humber Forest has planted its first trees of the new tree planting season, last week, with over 1,000 saplings planted at sites across the region.

The trees were planted in a range of projects across the county, including at a primary school in Skidby, and farmland in Goole and Holderness.

The volunteers educated the children at Skibdy Primary School on the essential role trees play in preserving our local environment, and in helping to prevent soil erosion, and providing habitats for wildlife.

Bathing waters in England and Wales could be tested all year round in a government shake-up to water pollution rules.

At the moment, designated bathing sites are only tested for dangerous pollution that could make swimmers sick during the “bathing season”, which runs from May to September.

Campaigners have long argued that people use waterways for recreation such as swimming, fishing and boating throughout the year, so the testing should be consistent. Additionally, the May-September period is often the driest of the year, so it is likely for there to be fewer spills from sewers during that time.

New research reveals ten butterfly species have increased significantly in Scotland in the past 40 years, and it is thought climate change could be pushing them northwards.

The latest Scottish Biodiversity Indicator, published by NatureScot today, examines the long-term trend for butterflies since 1979. The scientific report finds that, from 1979 to 2023, there has been an overall 35 percent increase across the 20 species analysed.

Generalist butterfly species, which use a range of habitats, have increased by half, while populations of specialist species, which are limited to specific habitats like heathland, remain stable.

Thousands of oysters released into the Firth of Forth appear to be thriving again after a century-long absence from the Scottish estuary since they were lost to overfishing.

Marine experts from Heriot-Watt University who have helped reintroduce about 30,000 European flat oysters to the estuary said divers and underwater cameras showed they were doing well.

The Firth of Forth was once home to one of the largest native European oyster reefs in the north-east Atlantic, yielding up to 30 million oysters a year during the 1800s, but by the beginning of the 1900s they had been fished to local extinction.