UK Nature and Environment

Globally and here in Wales, ornamental plants spreading from gardens are one of the main sources of invasive species which can – once in the wild – impact the environment, economy, our health and the way we live. Invasive species are estimated to cost the GB economy almost £2 billion each year.

Tomos Jones, Garden Escapers Project Manager at North Wales Wildlife Trust said: “Preventing invasive species is crucial because it saves us money and avoids the impacts they can have. Our research has identified a shortlist of popular garden plants which are not currently known to cause any impacts in the wild as invasive species but this could change in future. We want to know which of the target plants have escaped from gardens into nearby areas such as along pavements in urban areas or in nature reserves.”.

The sounds and smells of a scythe cut meadow are wonderful, explains Norfolk Wildlife Trust Reserves Officer Robert Morgan.

As I have commented before, meadows are in depressingly short supply, so Norfolk Wildlife Trust has been appealing this summer for support in improving and increasing wildflower meadows in our county.

Understandably modernised farming no longer required them for animal fodder, and most were ploughed out within a generation.

Excluding a few rare exceptions, it is fair to say we lost virtually all of them.

In recent years NWT has been working with landowners, both farmers and parish councils, to return wildflower meadows to our countryside.

As gardening enthusiasts look forward to enjoying the late summer in their well-kept patches, they are being urged to make a minor modification that could make a significant difference to one of the nation's favourite creatures. With the hedgehog population in decline over recent years, British householders and gardeners can help by simply drilling holes at the bottom of their garden fences.

Hedgehogs, whose numbers have seen a significant decrease due to changes in environment and modern gardening as well as household and lifestyle habits, have an important role as natural pest controllers. An adult hedgehog will gladly consume up to 100 invertebrates, like snails and slugs, per night.

These are the same molluscs that avid gardeners constantly strive to keep away from their fruit, vegetable crops, and precious floral arrangements.

Walking in England’s New Forest in 1892, butterfly collector S. G. Castle Russell encountered such numbers of the insects that they “were so thick that I could hardly see ahead”. On another occasion, he “captured a hundred purple hairstreaks” with two sweeps of his net.

Patrick Barkham, who recounts these riots of nature in his 2010 book on butterflies, laments never seeing such a sight. However, new research suggests Barkham is a rarity, because a lot of people are forgetting, or just don’t appreciate, how much wildlife there was.

To gauge this effect, Lizzie Jones at Royal Holloway, University of London, compared population records dating back to 1966 of 10 UK bird species against public perceptions of those birds. More than 900 people told her how abundant they thought the species – including declining ones such as house sparrows – were today and when they were aged 18.

When the sowing began on the coastline of south-west England, conservationists warned it may take a little while for the new wildflower meadows to flourish fully.

But 18 months on, a vibrant display of blooms has popped up in north Devon, a joy for human visitors and a draw for precious birds, insects and mammals.

The idea is to create a network of flower-filled grasslands sweeping from the fringes of sandy beaches to moorland edges.

Eventually, the National Trust plans to plant up more than 1,200 hectares (3,000 acres) of land in north Devon, the charity’s largest ever wildflower grasslands project.

Two litter-pickers from Grimsby have created a map of discarded balloons to highlight the dangers they present to wildlife.

It documents where latex and foil balloons – let off for events including memorials, birthdays and gender reveals – have fallen to earth.

Zac Robinson, who picks litter with his dog, and James Elliott, otherwise known as the Canoe River Cleaner, began compiling the interactive map last year.

They felt "something had to be done" because balloons were being found "almost daily" in fields, woods, rivers and on beaches.

Twelve osprey chicks have died in what is the worst loss for Northumberland’s breeding colony.

Bouts of bad weather, producing low temperatures and high winds suffered by the fish-eating eagles at Kielder are believed to have been a key factor in the blow to the colony, where breeding began in 2009. Three healthy youngsters on Nest 7 - the “nest with a view” across Kielder Water – have just been ringed, but this will be the only ringing this year.

So far there are seven surviving chicks at Kielder. This compares with the record year of 2021 when 16 youngsters fledged.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs is being investigated by the environmental watchdog after Conservative ministers authorised a bee-killing pesticide that was banned by the EU.

The investigation into Defra was launched after the campaign group ClientEarth submitted a complaint to the Office for Environmental Protection, which was set up after Brexit to replace the EU’s framework for punishing environmental offences by governments in the bloc. On Monday, the OEP announced it would be investigating the emergency authorisation of a neonicotinoid pesticide in 2023 and 2024.

It said: “The investigation is seeking to determine whether there were serious failures to comply with a number of environmental laws in relation to emergency authorisations granted for the use of Cruiser SB on sugar beet seeds.

An investigation of the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (Daera) by the UK’s environmental watchdog is “unsurprising but very concerning”, the minister has told a Stormont committee.

Andrew Muir said on Monday that he was “bitterly disappointed” about the Executive's failure to approve the plan, which will become Northern Ireland’s first environmental strategy.

The Office for Environmental Protection is examining the failure to publish an Environmental Improvement Plan (EIP), which was due to have been published in July 2023 and has been with the Executive since March this year.

Inland and coastal water-users are being asked to join two university studies to help protect people from the health risks related to pollution.

The University of Exeter's Poo-Sticks project is looking for information from wild swimmers in rivers and lakes, while its BlueAdapt survey was focusing on people who went in the sea, researchers at the institution's Penryn campus said.

Poo-sticks participants, external would be asked to provide a faecal sample using a pre-paid postal kit, and share information about recent freshwater swimming activities, dietary habits, and overall lifestyle and health, organisers said.

Elm trees were once stalwarts of the UK countryside that towered out of hedgerows, lined fields and woodlands. Glance at the landscape paintings of John Constable for a vague idea of what has been lost. Elm timber made ships, chairs and even water pipes until the 19th century.

These trees, and the world they held up, came crashing down when Dutch elm disease caused what is arguably the worst change to the UK’s countryside in living memory. The fungal disease carried by the elm bark beetle arrived on UK shores early in the 20th century and killed some elms but left the majority standing. Elm trees were not out of the woods though – a more virulent strain arrived in the 1960s and destroyed most of the UK’s 30 million elms.

Since the near total loss of elm save for a handful of trees that avoided the disease, generations have grown up without seeing a mature elm in the landscape. This has entrenched the public perception of elm as a lost species.

Residents and visitors to Canterbury have been treated to the unusual sight of baby beavers swimming in the River Stour.

The babies, called kits, are thought to be the first to be born in a wild urban setting in England for centuries.

The semi-aquatic rodents are known as a keystone species because of the enormous impact they have on the wildlife around them.

Sandra King, chief executive officer of the Beaver Trust, said: "It's so exciting to see them here."

The annual celebration of the sea runs Saturday 27th July – Sunday 11th August This year’s National Marine Week theme is Sea the Connection, which is celebrating the diverse ways people feel connected with the sea. The Wildlife Trusts are encouraging people to share favourite seaside memories, adventures and places on an interactive map.

From Herman Melville to Amy Liptrott, Sylvia Earle to Charles Darwin, writers, naturalists and adventurers have documented voyages, discoveries and encounters with the sea throughout history. Now The Wildlife Trusts are calling on everyone to share their stories of how the sea enriches lives.

National Marine Week takes place from Saturday 27th July to Sunday 11th August 2024 – it spans a fortnight due to varying tidal conditions around the UK. There are celebrations and events across the country such as the family-friendly SeaFest celebration in Cumbria, a Locomation in the Ocean on the Dorset coast, and a Marine Mammal BioBlitz in west Wales.

Labour inherits a host of environmental issues that will need to be dealt with by a department which is unprotected and could face a further financial squeeze.

The new Government is already being urged to “hit the ground running” and “crack on” with nature recovery and investment to support the countryside, where it has won many rural seats as the old “Tory Shire” stereotype fades away.

High on the agenda for new Environment Secretary Steve Reed will be the polluted and degraded state of rivers, lakes and coastal waters, which have prompted widespread criticism of government and water companies along with high leakage rates and shareholder pay-outs.

The Soil Association has responded to the new Labour Government:

Soil Association CEO Helen Browning said: "We congratulate the new Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, and look forward to working with him and his new government. Their campaign manifesto made clear their desire to improve access to nature, promote biodiversity, decarbonise the energy system, and protect our landscapes and wildlife while supporting farmers to shift to more sustainable and nature-friendly farming practices.

"Labour have said they will give new powers to regulators and introduce a land-use framework. They have pledged to improve public health and ensure half of all public sector food is produced locally or to higher environmental standards.

A young osprey has caused a flutter among bird of prey fans by taking his maiden flight at Rutland Water.

The moment, on Thursday, when 50-day-old 1R0 spread his wings and launched off was captured on a live video feed of his nest at Manton Bay.

A clip of his take-off has been watched more than 93,000 times.

Conservationists from the Rutland Osprey Project said it was an exciting moment.

HomeNewsThousands of children learn about life on the region’s moorlands Thousands of children learn about life on the region’s moorlands July 7, 2024 Joe Willis News 0 Lets Learn Moor event at Lower Barden Reservoir near Skipton. 2/7/2024. Photograph: Stuart Boulton/BASC.

More than 2,500 children from across the north of England are experiencing the feel of spongey sphagnum mosses under their feet and seeing carnivorous insect-eating sundew plants, as the UK’s largest uplands classroom returns this week.

They are also meeting hardy Swaledale sheep, seeing soaring birds of prey and hearing the chattering of red grouse and the call of the iconic curlew as part of this year’s Let’s Learn Moor events which are being held at locations across the north of England this week. [between 1-5 July 2024.]

Let’s Learn Moor is the UK’s largest annual upland education event, providing an opportunity for children to meet the people and organisations that help to protect our stunning moorland landscapes and species.

More than 1,000 apple, cobnut and broadleaf trees have been planted on an RSPB farm to discover whether agroforestry could be a "useful tool for farmers".

The trees were planted on an 11 hectare (27 acre) site at the charity's arable farm, between Papworth Everard and Cambridge, in 2022.

The long-term project will be monitored for biodiversity, greenhouse gas fluxes and business viability, said assistant farm manager, Sophie Arnold.

She said not enough was known about what an agroforest does or does not deliver in terms of "trade-offs and benefits" within the UK's farming system.

As summer rain sweeps across England, more than 100 sewage overflows have been reported across the country.

According to the Rivers Trust’s real-time sewage pollution map, the longest discharge in the past 48 hours was reported at Brookhouse Brook in the Epping Forrest district of Essex, lasting for more than 25 hours.

This was followed by discharges at the Little Hallingbury Brook in Uttlesford, Essex, and the River Ver in Hertfordshire, which both saw continuous sewage releases lasting for more than 22 hours.

A humpback whale was spotted by Jersey schoolchildren returning from a day trip to Sark.

Teachers and pupils from St Lawrence Primary School and d'Auvergne School captured the sighting on video and in photos as they travelled on Monday.

Donna Gicquel de Gruchy, from British Divers Marine Life Rescue Channel Islands, said the humpback whale appeared to be a young one.

A rare grasshopper is set to make its long-awaited return to the Norfolk Broads next weekend after an absence of 85 years.

The large marsh grasshopper was last recorded in the Broads in 1939, after its populations declined due to to changing land use and habitat loss.

But now Britain’s biggest grasshopper is set to return to its former haunts after Natural England granted permission for captive-bred grasshoppers to be released in the Wheatfen Nature Reserve in Surlingham, outside Norwich.

The species has already been successfully reintroduced to sites in west Norfolk as part of the Hop of Hope project, led by the social enterprise Citizen Zoo, alongside partners Norfolk Wildlife Trust and Natural England.

Genetic profiling advances offer a new beacon of hope for bringing back one of Scotland’s most iconic animals, according to conservationists.

The Scottish wildcat, Felis silvestris, is the UK’s only surviving native cat species, but also its rarest and most threatened mammal.

Once found all across the country, it has almost completely vanished in recent times due to habitat loss and persecution and is now listed as critically endangered.

Polluted chalk streams in England’s South Downs infuriated voters in Chichester, a seat that had been Conservative for a century Jon Ungoed-Thomas Jon Ungoed-Thomas Sun 7 Jul 2024 06.00 BST

The River Lavant, one of the world’s rare chalk streams, is a precious and much-loved habitat in the South Downs, but has been blighted by hundreds of sewage spills.

Its chalk-filtered waters rise in East Dean, West Sussex, described by locals as the “quintessential English village”, flow south to Lavant and carve a route to Chichester. It flows out to sea via Chichester harbour.

In February the village green and pond at East Dean were covered in what residents described as sewage with a film of fungus. The stench was described as “overpowering”. The picturesque green was still cordoned off on Friday with signs warning that it was “unsafe for public access”.

The disturbing plight of the Lavant and other rivers across the country – and the failure of the water companies to protect them – helped power the Liberal Democrats to win 71 seats on Thursday. The Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey hailed the party’s success the “best results in a century”.

The Greens will be a “small but mighty” voice for climate and nature in the next Parliament, one of the party’s newly elected MPs has said.

Ellie Chowns, the MP for North Herefordshire, said the Greens will be an “independent bold, brave voice” that will hold Labour to account on its climate pledges.

She also said the party will, alongside the newly elected Liberal Democrat MPs, pressure Sir Keir Starmer’s Government to take urgent action on the sewage scandal and the dire state of Britain’s rivers.

cross-posted from: https://feddit.uk/post/14302779

The sewage crisis was a significant factor in the Tories’ losing support in the “blue wall” in the south of England, electoral polling suggests.

Seven out of 10 voters supported legal measures to eliminate sewage spills in ecologically sensitive areas by 2030, according to polling conducted for Greenpeace by Survation just before the election. Less than a third of voters thought the Conservatives were right to weaken their commitments on the climate crisis and the environment.

The Tories lost 37 of the 52 “blue wall” seats in the south of England, with 24 taken by the Liberal Democrats, who campaigned strongly on sewage and the crisis of polluted rivers and beaches. Some of those seats, particularly along the Thames, include spots where some of the worst sewage problems have been reported.

One in four people in the region told pollsters that the Conservative party’s stance on the environment was a key reason for not voting for them; nationally, only a fifth of people cited this as a reason.