UK Nature and Environment

Natural Resources Wales is investigating after almost 21 hours of storm overflow sewage was discharged over 48 hours during the Bank Holiday weekend at two North Wales beauty spots.

During the most recent Bank Holiday Llyn Padarn - a Site of Special Scientific Interest due to its marine life - was subject to 12 hours and 45 minutes of storm sewage discharge across Sunday and Monday, as hundreds of visitors were settling in for their half-term break.

Over the same period the River Ogwen saw eight hours of sewage discharge due to the heavy rain.

A coalition of the UK’s major nature and climate groups, including Chester Zoo, The Wildlife Trusts and Wildlife & Countryside Link, have joined forces to stage a landmark General Election event, to put the major political parties in the hot seat on their nature and climate policies. The ‘Big Nature & Climate Debate’ will be staged before a live audience on Monday 17th June and will be broadcast via YouTube at 7pm on Tuesday 18th June. It will provide a unique opportunity for voters to compare parties’ plans to achieve legally binding nature targets and utilise nature’s recovery to achieve net zero commitments.

In 2022, the UK signed an international deal to halt and reverse nature loss by 2030. In England, that promise is underpinned by a legal duty in the Environment Act 2021 to stop the decline of species abundance, and a commitment to protect 30% of the land and sea for nature. These targets will be met or lost in the Parliament elected in this General Election, with the next five years also being crucial to staying on track to achieving net zero by 2050.

A BIRD that went extinct in the UK hundreds of years ago has been spotted in the Cheshire skies.

Cheshire Wildlife Trust has shared their excitement after a white stork was seen flying over the county.

Darren Banks, the trust’s land management officer, couldn’t believe what he was seeing.

He said: “I thought it was a common crane at first but after watching it for a while I realised it was a white stork!

“It was fantastic to witness it circling overhead with its incredible wing span."

It is a much-loved stretch of Celtic coastline, revered by poetry lovers as the place where Dylan Thomas lived his final years and by thrill seekers as a spot for breaking land-speed records.

Now between Thomas’s boathouse home at Laugharne and the natural fast track of Pendine Sands in south-west Wales, an ambitious project is under way to try to help restore one of the world’s most important and threatened habitats: seagrass meadows.

Two species of seagrass, flowering plants that live in shallow, sheltered bays and provide a vital habitat for species including seahorses, octopuses and cuttlefish and are an important carbon sink, are being grown in ponds fed with seawater pumped in from Carmarthen Bay.

Many birds are struggling not only due to the spread of urban areas but because of how we now construct our buildings.

Habitat loss and fragmentation means fewer nesting sites as well as less food and water, but here are 11 ways you can help your local feathered friends.

No matter how big your outdoor space is, or whether you’re a conventional gardener or want to take things further with wildlife-friendly gardening, you can make a difference.

While walkers might enjoy exploring Britain’s untrodden paths, landowners and farmers have long questioned whether they can be trusted.

Now Kate Humble, the television wildlife presenter and author, has defended the right to exclude the public from designated areas to ensure the protection of wildlife, the environment and farmland.

Only 8 per cent of England and Wales is covered by the right to roam freely, a custom that allows anyone to wander in open countryside. The rules have, however, become an existential battle in recent years.

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One of Scotland’s most powerful weapons in tackling climate change is not being properly recognised, experts have claimed.

Restoring poor quality peatlands could cut Scotland’s emissions by almost as much as decarbonising our entire housing stock.

But it is claimed that the most influential climate change body advising large corporations does not recognise peatland restoration as a legitimate means of offsetting greenhouse gas emissions.

A group of companies and charities has written to the Science Based Targets Initiative (SBTi) to say that decision is holding back the flow of private finance.

It is a land of mire, mist and midges that could soon be awarded a special status among the planet’s wild habitats. In a few weeks, Unesco is set to announce its decision on an application to allow the Flow Country in north Scotland to become a world heritage site.

Such a designation is only given to places of special cultural, historical or scientific significance and would put this remote region of perpetual dampness on the same standing as the Great Barrier Reef, the Grand Canyon and the Pyramids.

The Flow Country straddles Caithness and Sutherland in the most northerly part of the British Isles and is the largest area of blanket bog in the world. Covering 4,000 sq km, it is also home to a remarkable range of wildlife that includes the black-throated diver, golden plover, greenshank, golden eagle, merlin and short-eared owl, as well as otters and water voles.

If you go down to the woods today, you’re in for a big… treat. Britain’s ancient forests are magical realms, carpeted with nodding bluebells and gleaming galaxies of anemones and celandines in spring, festooned with butterflies and dragonflies in summer, studded with mushrooms and toadstools in autumn.

It wasn’t ever thus. Our neolithic farming ancestors began clearing Britain’s forests some 5,000 years ago, a process accelerated after the arrival of the Normans. A century ago, woodland covered just 5 per cent of the UK’s land. Thankfully, ongoing conservation efforts are reversing the tide, and woodland areas have more than doubled in the past hundred years.

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Once again, the Young Country Diary series is open for submissions! Every three months, as the UK enters a new season, we ask you to send us an article written by a child aged 8-14.

The article needs to be about a recent encounter they’ve had with nature – whether it’s a trip to the beach, a worm-hungry blackbird or a thriving rockpool.

Crucially, it doesn’t matter if the child is a nature expert or has never picked up a pair of binoculars. We are especially keen to reach teachers who might like to get their class outside and noticing nature.

Please note the deadline for entry is noon on Monday 1 July.

SILHILLIANS can get free trees as part of a scheme to boost and protect the borough’s rural landscape.

The Arden Free Tree Scheme is open to local individuals and groups – including a business or a school – wishing to create hedgerows or small woodlands on their own land within Solihull.

Run by Solihull Council in partnership with Birmingham Airport, the scheme aims to protect and enhance the rural character of the borough and the wider Arden landscape by promoting the planting of traditional, native trees and shrubs, helping to create a strong sense of place and local distinctiveness while also reducing carbon in the atmosphere.

The A9 and nature are not, you might think, obvious bedfellows. Every day cars roar north and south along this tarmac spine of Scotland, the country’s longest road, releasing carbon dioxide into the air from their exhausts.

And yet for a six-mile stretch of the road just south of Dalnaspidal, almost at the geographic heart of the country, willow, rowan and pine fill the central reservation in a burst of colour and foliage. The contrast with the surrounding hills, which stretch away bare on either side, couldn’t be more stark.

And so a route notorious for accidents and the subject of criticism over the delays to the dualling of the road between Inverness and Perth — delayed until 2035 — is also an example of inadvertent rewilding.

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Since winning the title of Farmers Weekly Environmental Farmers of the Year, Emma and James Loder-Symonds have been busy trialling the impact of grazing cover crops.

The cover crop trial took place in conjunction with Southern Water, AHDB and FWAG South East.

It involved establishing a crop of kale, stubble radish, linseed, red clover and phacelia in late August after harvest, which was then overwintered and grazed from 1 November.

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

We didn't exactly get many entries last time, but I see that the number of subscribers has pretty much doubled since then: almost 300 now!

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, “Summer” 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.

We’ll leave this post stickied until Thursday June 13th for submissions then we’ll put up a voting thread for the following 7 days with all the submissions that we have by then and then decide the winner – basically on votes, but the mods reserve the right to disqualify any ‘Naturey McNatureface’ ones or others that we really don’t think are suitable - on June 20th: the summer solstice. The winner will become the banner until the next equinox, and the next competition, and obviously we’ll make it clear in the sidebar who should be credited for that banner.

Investigations into the source of pollution at a popular beach in south Wales remain inconclusive more than a week after people were told to avoid going into the water.

Half-term visitors to Ogmore beach in Vale of Glamorgan said they were "disappointed" to not be able to swim.

Last week, Welsh Water said it had identified a "small leak" at its Penybont wastewater treatment works.

But it has since said there was "not enough evidence" to pinpoint the problem to the plant and the source of the pollution remained unidentified.

Take the survey today!

The Great Big Nature Survey is all about people and nature.

The Wildlife Trusts want to hear your opinions on some of the biggest questions surrounding nature and our collective role in caring for it.

🌍 How often do you spend time in nature, if at all?

🌍 Is nature important to you? If so, how important?

🌍 What, if any, roles should people, business, and government have in managing nature?

A 26-acre farm in Sevenaoks is set to be transformed into a nature haven.

The Kent Wildlife Trust launched a fundraiser to buy the site in Polhill, achieving its target of £195,000 with a day to spare.

Previously a commercial farm, the charity plans to transform the site into a biodiverse chalk downland.

Director of conservation, Paul Hadaway, thanked supporters and said: “This is a hugely positive and exciting story at a time when nature faces so many challenges."

The trust had until 1 June to secure the money and said it was "delighted" when a flurry of last minute donations saw it hit the target.

To celebrate World Peatland Day on the 2nd of June, people will now be able to search where peatland is being restored and by whom with a newly launched data layer on the Welsh Peatland Data Map.

While these crucial habitats might only cover 4% of the Welsh landscape, peatland still packs a mighty punch in tackling the nature and climate emergencies, holding 30% of the land-carbon. Yet 90% of this peatland is damaged and is releasing greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.

A restored peatland can reduce the amount of greenhouse gases emitted, slow down water flow, capture carbon, and improve biodiversity by providing unique habitats for a range of wildlife.

Through the National Peatland Action Programme, managed by Natural Resources Wales (NRW) and funded by the Welsh Government, priority action is underway to restore this precious carbon store in our landscape, with information on locations now only a click away.

More than 600 homes in a Surrey village have been told not to drink their tap water after tests indicated “a possible deterioration in quality” linked to a historical fuel leak.

Thames Water issued a total of 616 houses in Bramley a “precautionary” instruction not to use their supply for drinking, cooking or brushing their teeth – though they can continue to shower and wash hands.

The company said that “concerning results” had been identified in three areas on Thursday, revealing “elevated” levels of hydrocarbons, which are found in fuel.

A project to plant trees on a stretch of a Sutherland salmon river to help combat climate change has been completed, it has been announced.

A 1.4km stretch of the River Oykel on the privately owned Benmore Estate has been planted with around 2,850 native broadleaf trees to provide shade and help prevent water temperatures from rising.

The planting was one of three in the Highlands to be carried out as part of the development phase of the nationwide Riverwoods Blueprint Project, funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

The Kyle of Sutherland Fisheries manages the catchments of the five rivers that flow into the Kyle of Sutherland - the Rivers Carron, Oykel, Cassley, Shin and Evelix.

Government agencies dragging their heels on restoring the keystone species, say campaigners

Three-quarters of Scots want Scotland’s public bodies to step up action on beaver reintroductions, according to research conducted for the Scottish Rewilding Alliance.

But agencies are not delivering on a Scottish Government call on them to lead in moving beavers to new areas – resulting in more than two years of inaction and indecision, and missed opportunities for local communities, says the alliance.

In polling carried out by independent research agency Survation, 73% of respondents said Scotland’s public bodies should identify more sites on their land where beavers could live.

Natural Resources Wales (NRW) is calling for people with an interest in the health of Wales’ water environment to participate in the first of a series of consultations about future plans to protect and improve water across Wales.

River Basin Management Plans are updated every six years, and set the direction for how NRW will manage, protect and improve Wales’s rivers, lakes, canals, groundwaters, estuaries and coastal waters.

The first consultation is open now and will run until December 20. It focusses on setting out the planning process and identifying people, groups and organisations who wish to participate in the development of the next River Basin Management plans.

Wildlife in the River Dee is facing a continued threat by rising water temperatures, conservationists have warned.

Earlier this month, temperatures as high as 21C were recorded in the river near Ballater, well beyond the optimal 16 or 17C needed to sustain Atlantic salmon.

Beyond this range, the fish can stop eating.

A rare dragonfly looks set to have a very successful breeding season at Drumburgh Moss Nature Reserve. At the start of our survey season, we found that 328 dragonflies had already emerged. That’s half of the total from the whole of last year’s season.

The white-faced darter, a small, dark dragonfly with red or yellow markings and a distinctive white face, is currently only found at a handful of sites around England. We've introduced it to Drumburgh Moss Nature Reserve over five years since 2019 in collaboration with the British Dragonfly Society.

Jack Dryden, Assistant Reserves Officer North for Cumbria Wildlife Trust said: “This is a fantastic result – 328 is a really encouraging number for the first day of our monitoring season. For comparison, it’s over half of last year’s total count of 627, which was done over seven weeks of monitoring. The year before that, in 2022, there were 124, so it looks like numbers will continue to rise, which is brilliant news.

A long-term photography study has revealed the scale of nature restoration at National Nature Reserves (NNRs) across the Highlands.

NatureScot has carried out repeat photography to illustrate the changes that have happened to the natural habitats at its NNRs over time.

This involves re-taking historical photos at the same location, and at the same time of year – in some cases dating back 70 years.

A new Storymap launched today showcases the expansion of the Caledonian pine forests at Invereshie and Inshriach NNR, Beinn Eighe NNR and Dell Woods NNR; the spread of birch woodlands at Creag Meagaidh NNR and Creagellachie NNR; and the changes following peatland restoration at Ben Wyvis NNR.