UK Nature and Environment

A new project that aims to deepen people’s connection to nature and increase awareness of climate change has been awarded £1.1 million from The National Lottery Community Fund.

Over the next five years, and thanks to the support of National Lottery players, River Esk Connect (REConnect) will see schools, community groups, and volunteers take part in learning days and conservation activities including wildlife surveys, invasive species control, river monitoring and hedge laying. The project aims to inspire people to take the lead with environmental activities in their own communities, ensuring the River Esk and surrounding area grows as a nature-rich landscape that is protected for future generations.

REConnect is led by a group of organisations including the North York Moors National Park Authority, Yorkshire Wildlife Trust, Groundwork, and the Yorkshire Marine Nature Partnership, bringing together experts in climate, ecology and community action.

The Severn Valley Water Management Scheme ‘demonstrator project’ is managed by Shropshire Council through the River Severn Partnership and has its focus on the Rea Brook, which flows into the River Severn in Shrewsbury.

It aims to provide a suite of nature-based flood management schemes that will demonstrate different measures that can both hold back water and also enhance habitat and biodiversity.

A breeding programme is set to boost a critically endangered species.

About 120 young freshwater pearl mussels are being released into a Gwynedd river to help the species.

The mussels were raised at Natural Resources Wales’s (NRW) captive-rearing facility near Brecon.

They will be released into the river following extensive habitat restoration works in 2022.

When you think of rainforests your mind likely jumps to the forests of Borneo or the Amazon. What you may not realise is that there are incredible rainforests right here in Wales. These temperate rainforests create a habitat which is globally rare, and considered to be more threatened than tropical rainforest.

Thousands of wildflowers are being planted in the Lake District as part of efforts to restore traditional hay meadows.

More than 5,500 are being plug planted during September at Boon Crag Farm on the shores of Coniston.

Once established, they will provide habitat for wildlife including bees and butterflies, as well as providing benefits to grazing livestock, the National Trust (NT) said.

Time-honoured techniques are bringing nature back to life in Kent.

Scotney Castle, near Lamberhurst, is owned by the National Trust and has started using horses for mowing duties to help grow wildflower meadows on the estate.

The Oakwood Clydesdale horses - called Percy and Frank – are used as they cause less damage to the soil and wildlife when clearing vegetation compared to modern machines, the trust said.

They are also more environmentally friendly than heavy machinery since they do not need fossil fuels, it adds.

The rare and illusive One-flowered Wintergreen Moneses uniflora, a small flowering plant found in pine woodlands, has defied expectations of Plantlife Scotland and partners in the UK’s first ever project to restore the species.

One-flowered Wintergreen has seen a 70% survival success rate following a translocation (movement of a species from one location to another) from a secure population of the species in Roseisle Forest and Old Grantown Wood to RSPB Abernethy, led by Plantlife Scotland.

The flower has suffered a sharp decline globally and it is estimated that in the last 50 years over half of the UK population has been lost, with only two known remaining patches in the Cairngorms National Park and as few as just seven populations in the whole country.

More than 100 water voles have been released at the Nene Wetlands Nature Reserve as part of ambitious plans to restore the species to Northamptonshire.

Last week 116 water voles bred in captivity were released to the nature reserve and more will follow next year. The release was funded and licensed by Natural England as part of its Species Recovery Programme. Find out more about the funding in this blog Species Recovery Programme Capital Grant Scheme awards – Natural England (blog.gov.uk).

Water voles in Northamptonshire are now restricted to a few isolated colonies. The last records for the area around Nene Wetlands Nature Reserve are from around the year 2000. The Wildlife Trust has been working with partners in the county including Stanwick Lakes country park and Water Resources East to create the right conditions for water voles return. It is hoped that this project will be the start of a meta population of water voles which can then expand across Northamptonshire.

A record total of 55 pairs of Chough attempted to breed in Cornwall this year.

The red-billed corvid began to recolonise Cornwall in 2001 after 28 years of absence from the county. The 2024 breeding season was the best yet, with a record number of breeding pairs and a total of 108 young known to have successfully fledged. This follows an expansion in the range of Chough in Cornwall, with birds now readily found in inland areas.

This year’s breeding season for endangered hen harriers at an upland nature reserve has been the most successful for 30 years.

RSPB staff and volunteers worked around the clock at the Geltsdale reserve on the border of Northumberland and Cumbria to monitor the nests. Teams worked in shifts, concealing themselves a safe distance away and watching the nests with thermal binoculars at night to ensure the birds were not disturbed.

Eight hen harrier chicks have fledged at the RSPB nature reserve this year. Two pairs of hen harriers each produced four chicks. One of the pairs, including a satellite-tagged female, also bred in 2023.

A group of UK marine biologists are visiting Alderney for a research trip, to improve the island's ecological records.

Twenty-seven members from the Porcupine Marine Natural History Society (PMNHS), arrived on the island on September 12, for a one week stay supported by the Alderney Wildlife Trust.

The marine environment in Alderney is still largely unrecorded, and the field trip will investigate under-recorded marine habitats and species, through a variety of methods including diving.

A wildlife trust hopes a giant wasp nest found in a house could help people better understand the insect.

The impressive structure, measuring an estimated 75cm (30in) across, was donated to the Wildlife Trust for Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire by a pest controller, who was called to remove it from an attic.

Now situated in the entrance to the trust's office in Cambourne, Cambridgeshire, the nest has gained attention and also highlighted that wasps are skilled architects.

Waterways managers are working to stop another pollution incident in stretch of a canal where thousands of litres of cyanide were leaked last month.

About 4,000 litres (879 gallons) of sodium cyanide and other chemicals spilled into the canal in Walsall on 12 August, closing a 12-mile stretch of the waterway.

Walsall Council said aeration of the canal to deal with the problem had since been successful.

"[But] the next step is, what’s the pollution level like in all the sediment that lies at the bottom of the canal," said Henriette Breukelaar, from the Canal and River Trust.

"Failed" efforts to tackle sewage pollution mean Wales' water watchdog should be stripped of its role regulating the industry, Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey has said.

The water industry in Wales is covered by Welsh government agency Natural Resources Wales (NRW), the environmental regulator and Ofwat, the economic regulator.

Sir Ed said a "different system" should be drawn up to create a "more powerful" regulator.

What do you think of when you think of a national park? Is it a wide area of glorious natural beauty, where wildlife runs free under the protection of the state? Or is it a wide area mostly farmed by private landowners, in which nature is faring worse than outside its boundaries, and largely off-limits to the public?

In England, the reality is the latter, and this matters. The country is one of the most nature-depleted nations in the world, in the bottom 10% of nations for biodiversity. “Nature is in freefall in our national parks,” says Dr Rose O’Neill, the chief executive of the Campaign for National Parks (CNP).

Wildlife is wonderful for its own sake, but its loss also damages its near-magical ability to boost people’s wellbeing, as well as natural flood defences, pollination and more. Restoring nature is also critical to fighting the climate emergency, soaking up carbon in new trees and rewetted peatlands.

An ambitious vision for how the UK’s seabed can continue to support the accelerated delivery of nature recovery and the transition to clean energy has been set out by The Crown Estate, which manages the seabed around England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Amid increasing demand on the seabed from sectors critical to the UK economy, The Crown Estate has been working with stakeholders to develop initial plans for a ground-breaking Marine Delivery Routemap.

We are appalled to hear that the badger cull will once again go ahead in Derbyshire.

We understand the devastation that bovine tuberculosis (bTB) causes to affected farmers and the wider farming community, but we need to find the right mechanisms to control the disease. However, badgers are not the primary cause of the spread of bTB in cattle.

On 30th August, the Government launched its strategy to use a scientific approach to end the badger cull and accelerate the development of a cattle vaccine. Despite this encouraging news the Government’s strategy is not urgent enough. Thousands of badgers will be needlessly killed whilst the cull is allowed to continue until new measures are rolled out and take effect.

Did you know, that Autumn is one of the best times of year to scatter wildflower seeds? Co-founder of Seedball, Ana Attlee, tells us 5 reasons why you should make Autumn you’re gardening time of choice...

As Summer’s vivid colours begin to transition to the rich, warm tones of Autumn, there’s a wildflower gardening secret that often goes unnoticed: in the UK Autumn is the perfect time to scatter wildflower seed balls (and sow your collected seed from this year’s wildflowers).

In the UK, Autumn typically begins to make its presence felt from the end of August into September. This is when you’ll notice a gradual cooling of temperature, the days becoming shorter, and subtle changes in the environment, such as increased moisture in the air, a crispness and earthy scent. These signs indicate that the season is shifting, even as summer lingers on the calendar. While many of us think to Spring as the season for planting, nature herself does otherwise. British native wildflowers naturally release their seeds in Autumn, following a cycle that has evolved to match our climate over millennia. So this year why not embrace this natural rhythm and prepare your garden, balcony or window pots for a wildlife-friendly welcome next spring.

A country estate has been honoured for its work to make sure curlews don't become extinct in the UK.

Moorland Association member Bolton Castle Estate has won the Upland Curlew Award at the North of England Curlew Conservation Awards, organised by the National Parks and National Landscapes in the north of England for its work in protecting the species.

The awards are presented to farmers and landowners who have contributed to curlew conservation.

Butterfly Conservation has joined more than 100 retailers, compost manufacturers, nursery owners and other conservation charities signing a letter urging Keir Starmer and his cabinet to legislate to end peat sales for good.

It is the first time retailers, charities and the horticultural industry have joined forces to demand a change in legislation.

Coordinated by The Peat-Free Partnership – a coalition of horticultural organisations and environmental NGOs in the UK – the letter includes support from B&Q, the Co-op, major compost manufacturer Evergreen Garden Care and supplier Vitacress – and calls on the new Government to fulfil its legal commitments on climate change and biodiversity.

Dozens of water voles have been released into the wild in Cornwall to help improve a wetland.

The Duchy of Cornwall said it released 80 water voles in the River Fowey at Restormel.

The rodents, which are the fastest-declining mammal in England, were declared extinct in the region in the 1990s, the duchy said.

It said larger and deeper pools created along the River Fowey through a nature programme since 2022 had made an ideal habitat for water voles.

Restoring nature in the UK’s national parks is being held back because nearly 90% of their land remains in the hands of private owners, campaigners say.

The Campaign for National Parks (CNP) has called for the authorities overseeing the protected landscapes to be given more powers to buy up private land under what they call a ‘People’s Charter’ so they can do more to boost biodiversity.

New research estimates that just under 595,000 acres of 5.7m acres of land covered by Britain’s 15 national parks is in public ownership.

Farmers can now use Land App to assess hedgerow condition and satisfy new SFI scheme requirements, thanks to collaboration with People’s Trust for Endangered Species

Farmers and land managers across the UK can now use Land App to assess and record the condition of their hedgerows to satisfy the hedgerow assessment action (CHRW1) in the new SFI (Sustainable Farming Initiative) scheme, thanks to a new collaboration between wildlife conservation charity People’s Trust for Endangered Species (PTES) and cloud-based mapping platform Land App.

The SFI hedgerow assessment action is a new approach from the Government and is the first time farmers are paid (currently £5 per 100 metres per side per year) to undertake a hedgerow health-check of this kind. To do this, farmers based in England* can now use the Healthy Hedgerows survey on Land App and Land App Mobile, which is based on PTES’ original survey recommended by Defra as the go-to tool for recording SFI hedgerow actions.

A group of volunteers will honour one of the nation's most beloved nature poets with a project to reclaim habitats and open up corridors of land.

The nature 19th Century poet John Clare grew up in Helpston, Cambridgeshire, which at the time was part of Northamptonshire, and wrote about the loss of the scenery he loved as a child.

The John Clare Countryside Project, led by the Langdyke Countryside Trust, will connect Peterborough to Stamford in Lincolnshire, through green corridors of farmland.