UK Nature and Environment

Pine martens have been seen thriving in the New Forest after being absent from the national park for decades.

Once widespread across the UK, pine marten populations were left devastated due to habitat loss and persecution which left only a small amount, mostly in northern England, Scotland, and parts of Wales.

In 2024, a three-year study of the weasel-like species revealed that populations had return to the New Forest after decades and Daily Echo camera club member, Trev Stadd, manged to capture some amazing pine marten pictures in Ashurst near Totton.

Two beaver kits have been born on Northumberland's Wallington Estate. The new arrivals mark the second consecutive year of successful breeding since four Eurasian beavers were reintroduced to the estate in July 2023.

Rangers recently observed signs of lactation in the adult female on wildlife cameras in early June. This week, camera trap footage captured the first sightings of the young kits with their mother.

The news of the two new arrivals come just one year and two days after the first kit to be born in Northumberland in over 400 years was announced last July.

Dartmoor is a place where the wild things are. Rivers thread through open moorland past towering rocky outcrops. Radioactive-coloured lichens cling to 300m-year-old boulders. Bronze age burial mounds and standing stones are reminders that humans have been drawn here for thousands of years. It is considered one of the UK’s most beautiful and precious landscapes.

Much of this moorland is officially protected as a site of special scientific interest (SSSI) because it is considered home to the country’s most valued wildlife. Its blanket bogs, heathlands and high altitude oak woodlands are treasure troves of nature.

But the wildlife that once depended on these habitats is vanishing. Dartmoor is known for its diverse birdlife, but breeding populations of golden plover, red grouse and ring ouzel have disappeared, or are on the verge of local extinction.

And Chris Packham's view here.

The River Lugg in Herefordshire has been named as one of the worst waterways for containing hazardous chemicals known as biocides, it has been revealed.

Environmental groups Wildlife and Countryside Link (WCL) and the Rivers Trust examined official water quality data from English rivers for seven key biocides including fungicides, a herbicide and insecticides.

Seven were widespread in rivers, the study found, but the River Lugg, along with the River Teme at Powick in Worcestershire, was among the 12 showing the highest numbers of individual biocides.

It could take thousands of years for a cross-border peatland destroyed by fire to return to ecological health, a conservation group has warned.

The fire on Slieve Beagh raged for three days in May.

The bog is an important site for biodiversity and is home to the endangered hen harrier.

Roy Spence, from the River Blackwater Catchment Trust (RBCT), said it was "a battle" to get the ecosystem back to where it should be.

Ten thousand years in the making and launched today (Monday 14 July), the new Risley, Holcroft and Chat Moss National Nature Reserve will provide a destination for the people of Warrington and Greater Manchester to access nature-rich landscapes.

The newest addition under the King’s Series, this network of 11 sites from lowland raised bogs and fen, through to lowland heath, wet woodland and drier woodland habitats will be restored to provide homes for rare species, such as lapwings, curlew, sundew and adders.

After being at the centre of the industrial revolution, this area is becoming a leading example of nature recovery, through the restoration of some of our most important and precious habitats.

Almost 300 Olympic-sized swimming pools of inert materials will be bought in to turn an old quarry in Surrey into a nature conservation - although it could take at least 14 years to complete. Surrey County Council officers granted utility company Suez planning permission to restore the site in Capel near Dorking in June.

It will bring an end to the industrialisation of the land that has stretched back almost 80 years after originally being given the right to dig up the site in 1947, predating the modern planning system.

The first decade of the project will see huge swathes of the site refilled before a potential two-year pause to allow habitats to establish. This would be followed by another two years work ensuring water can drain freely from the restored land. The company described it as an “exciting project” that “will breathe new life into the worked-out clay quarry, transforming it into a beautiful landscape rich in biodiversity – with special benefits for protected species like the great crested newt.”

Ladybirds are among the cutest creepy crawlies: you find handbags in the shape of them, and some people think they bring you luck if you wish on one.

But even the loveliest things can get a bit much, and you might have noticed there being rather a lot of the cute red bugs around this year.

Either we’re all about to see something extremely fortune happen (Keir Starmer would be happy about this), or there’s something else going on.

A precious stone set in a silver sea. The British have long considered their isles a sort of Eden and seabirds would certainly concur: with 19,491 miles of coastline and fish-rich seas to plunder, our avian neighbours unsurprisingly find the place an absolute des res.

For statistical starters, 80% of the world’s Manx shearwater breed here, 60% of great skua and 34% of European shag. It’s not only the quantity of our coastline that draws them in, it’s the quality: the wave-girded inaccessible islets and the towering sea cliffs with ledges that provide near impregnable nesting refuges for seabirds. Skomer was once the haunt of men — Vikings — now, it is the home of Manx shearwaters and puffins.

That question, of course, is: what is a seabird? Peregrines and choughs live on cliffs, but they are not seabirds. A true example is an avian that relies on the ocean to survive and whose body has evolved for the marine world, often developing what amounts to superpowers in the process.

Multi-million pound funding secured to put community at the heart of new town conservation initiative

A five-year wildlife restoration project that will see thousands of trees planted and tens of thousands of wildflowers sown across Cumbernauld has been given the green light, with almost £3million of funding announced.

Nurturing Natural Connections will be delivered through the Cumbernauld Living Landscape initiative, a partnership led by the Scottish Wildlife Trust, and builds upon the success of the programme’s previous project, Creating Natural Connections.

The National Lottery Heritage Fund has now confirmed £2.6million support for the project.

The UK is breaking heat and rainfall records increasingly frequently as its climate continues to warm, the Met Office has warned.

The country's changing weather patterns mean the UK now experiences a "notably different" climate to what it was just a few decades ago, its State of the UK Climate report says.

We now have many more very hot days and many fewer extremely cold nights, according to this latest assessment.

Osprey has bred successfully in Norfolk for the first time in more than 250 years.

Nestlings were first seen on 20 June at Ranworth Broad near Wroxham, where a pair of Ospreys had returned for the third year in a row. Norfolk Wildlife Trust (NWT), which manages the site, confirmed that at least two chicks have been seen in the nest.

Teala Leeder, senior visitor centre manager, said: "Getting my first glimpse of the chicks and confirming our greatest hope was just incredible. It also gives visitors the chance to catch a glimpse of these impressive birds of prey and their young."

A countryside charity has said it wants to create a "pollinator paradise" for bees, butterflies and other insects as part of a project to transform overgrown land at a Surrey farm.

The Countryside Regeneration Trust (CRT) said it wanted to use Pierrepont Farm, in Frensham, as a site to grow wildflowers and build insect nesting areas.

The project is aiming to protect pollinators in the local ecosystem, with many species in decline nationally.

The health of rivers across south-east England is under growing threat as hot and dry weather has caused water levels to plummet and pollution to spike, according to the Angling Trust.

The charity warns that the UK's hottest spring on record coupled with pollution has pushed some rivers -including the River Medway in Kent and River Wandle in Surrey - to the brink.

Conservationists say low flows and concentrated pollutants such as ammonia and nitrates - that come from the likes of farming and sewage - have caused fish to die.

Watch: Red kite glides over fields in drone video

A videographer has used a drone to capture footage of a red kite in mid-flight over the Norfolk countryside.

Paul Jones said he first became interested in the birds five years ago and had been trying to get the perfect shot ever since.

"This is hands down the best thing I've ever filmed," he said.

Mr Jones, 41, from King's Lynn, first started flying drones nine years ago and said he always filmed from a safe distance and did not disturb the birds.

Two baby beavers have been born in Cornwall as part of a wildlife reintroduction project.

The parent beavers, Twiggy and Byrti, were introduced to a purpose-built enclosure on the Lost Gardens of Heligan estate in 2023 and 2024 respectively.

It was part of a national programme of reintroducing the species more than 400 years after their extinction in Britain, said The Lost Gardens of Heligan.

In 2022, Butterfly Conservation reported that numbers had dropped by 80%, external since the 1970s.

David Finkle, chief executive of Markshall, in Coggeshall, said: "This year we have seen a butterfly bomb... It's almost like a cannon of butterflies has exploded, and they're absolutely everywhere."

Of the 59 butterfly species present in the UK, the charity has spotted 28 on its 2,200 acres so far this year.

Temperatures are set to reach highs of 34C on Friday and possibly Saturday with the sweltering temperatures continuing into early next week.

Dr Kevin Collins, a senior lecturer of environment and systems at the Milton Keynes-based Open University, said wildlife felt "stressed by heat that changed their behaviour on a daily basis - they need to seek shade.. and better access to water and food.

"Birds, in really hot weather, will fly less, which means they're not accessing food, not hydrating properly, which weakens them and causes disease and mortality."

Devon Wildlife Trust said 15 martens were reintroduced on Dartmoor in 2024 following a 100-year absence.

It said camera trap footage, at a secret site, revealed the first glimpses of the kits and conservationists behind the project said they were "ecstatic" to see the animals had successfully bred.

"This is a historic moment for the return of a native animal and for the future of the South West's woodlands," said Tracey Hamston who leads the Two Moors pine marten project.

Forestry England needs to urgently step up its ancient woodland restoration before the irreplaceable habitat is lost for ever, campaigners have said.

Findings by the campaign group Wild Card suggest that in the 10 most recently assessed years Forestry England, which is in charge of the country’s woodlands, has fully restored just 5.8% (2,484 hectares/6,138 acres) of publicly owned plantations on ancient woodland sites (PAWS).

The actor Judi Dench has joined a campaign to conserve the “ancient wisdom” and ask for a funded government strategy to urgently restore England’s oldest and most precious forests.

Toxic Pfas above proposed safety limits in almost all English waters tested

Exclusive: 110 of 117 bodies of water tested by Environment Agency would fail standards, with levels in fish 322 times the planned limit Rachel Salvidge Fri 11 Jul 2025 10.00 BST

Nearly all rivers, lakes and ponds in England tested for a range of Pfas, known as “forever chemicals”, exceed proposed new safety limits and 85% contain levels at least five times higher, analysis of official data reveals.

Out of 117 water bodies tested by the Environment Agency for multiple types of Pfas, 110 would fail the safety standard, according to analysis by Wildlife and Countryside Link and the Rivers Trust.

They also found levels of Pfos – a banned carcinogenic Pfas – in fish were on average 322 times higher than planned limits for wildlife. If just one portion of such freshwater fish was eaten each month this would exceed the safe threshold of Pfos for people to consume over a year, according to the NGOs.

Environmentalists and economists are urging the Government to abandon damaging proposals (currently under consultation) to exempt all small development sites (under 1 hectare) from crucial biodiversity requirements. The call comes as new research, BNG in Small Developments, highlights this would be a major setback for nature recovery and risks collapsing the emerging biodiversity credits market.[2] Instead, the research shows that by removing the very smallest sites (under 0.1ha) from the scheme altogether but ending loopholes for larger sites, a “win-win” could be achieved for nature and development.

New analysis by eftec, commissioned by The Lifescape Project and Wildlife and Countryside Link, shows the extent of current BNG rule misuse and the likely future impacts if the Government removes BNG requirements for all small sites.

Thousands of young people across England taking part in the National Education Nature Park programme are supporting global biodiversity research by mapping out the habitats on their school sites.

The National Education Nature Park, commissioned by the Department for Education and led by the Natural History Museum working with the Royal Horticultural Society and additional partners, sees young people creating a network of nature-rich spaces on school sites across the country by turning them from ‘grey to green’ through creating new habitats such as ponds, green walls and grasslands.

The programme has recently reached the milestone of more than 1,000 schools creating a map of the habitats on their site, recording an area of over 11 million square metres, equating to around 8,800 Olympic-size swimming pools. From recording trees and hedges, grassy areas, or even bare ground, mapping existing habitats is the exciting first step in young people understanding what their education site offers for nature, and choosing how to make meaningful improvements. Using curriculum-linked resources from the programme and digital tools developed with Esri UK, these habitat maps allow schools to track their progress over time as well as contributing to cutting-edge scientific research.

German researchers visited Norfolk to see how conservationists protect birds nesting along the coast.

The group from the Nature and Biodiversity Conservation Union (NABU) met with the RSPB to share experiences of managing similar species on beaches in Europe.

Mick Davis, senior beach warden on the Norfolk coastline, said the area was home to one of the largest colonies in the northern hemisphere of little terns.