UK Nature and Environment

Common Eider has bred in Cornwall for the first time.

On Thursday 23 May, a female was photographed with three ducklings at Spit Beach, Par, on the Cornish south coast. This record, according to the Cornwall Bird Watching & Preservation Society, constitutes the first time the duck has bred in the county.

In Britain, Common Eider is at the southern edge of its wider breeding range. Birds winter all along the south coast in moderate numbers, but breeding is generally confined to northern England and Scotland, with North Wales the nearest traditional area to Cornwall.

However, in recent years the species has nested in Hampshire in the west Solent, coinciding with increasing numbers of summering birds along the English south coast. The first Hampshire nest was found in the Pennington area in 2003 with attempts suspected annually since, though not always confirmed.

The latest National Bat Monitoring Program report, out today, finds that out of the population trends for 11 of the UK's 17 breeding bat species, none have declined and five show encouraging signs of initial recovery from historical declines (prior to the 25 years since monitoring began).

However, for the first time, NBMP data have been used to examine population trends over a shorter period of five years. And these trends are worrying, as they show that two iconic species may have started to decline. Over this shorter time scale, data from summer roosts show the brown long-eared bat has declined by 11.2% at the GB scale, while the lesser horseshoe bat has declined by 12.3% in England in contrast to a continued increase in Wales.

12, 13, 14 July 2024 - This July sees the return of Global Birdfair. Come along to Lyndon Top in Rutland for a celebration of birds and birdwatching, with a fantastic mix of talks, events and workshops.

We’re excited to share our five live cameras with you this spring and summer. Make the most of an opportunity to experience some of the UK’s wildlife up close – all without leaving the comfort of your home! You can get a bird’s eye view of what our wildlife gets up to from nature hotspots across England and Scotland. And if you’re heavily invested in the onscreen drama, or you just need a mindful moment in the middle of the day, you can catch-up on the go straight from your smartphone.

New polling data released today shows that, despite being banned nearly 20 years ago, voters want hunting laws strengthened by the next government and will cast their votes to prove it.

The polling was commissioned by national animal welfare charity the League Against Cruel Sports but carried out independently by FindOutNow with further analysis by Electoral Calculus in March and April this year.

It shows nearly eight out of 10 (76 percent) voters polled in favour of strengthening the Hunting Act.

The public are being urged to be vigilant for any sightings of oak processionary moth caterpillars, a tree pest which can strip oak trees of their foliage and leave them susceptible to disease.

The caterpillars - predominantly found in South East England - descend down oak trees in head-to-tail processionary form, occasionally taking the form of an arrow shape, earning them their name. They feed on the leaves as they migrate causing the leaves to sometimes drop off which negatively impacts their growth. This can weaken the tree and leave it more vulnerable to other stresses, such as drought and further diseases.

The warning has been issued today by the Forestry Commission who are urging the public to report any sightings to the via the TreeAlert portal or by email to [email protected].

Pretty sure that it is supposed to be DEFRA rather than DEFA.

A new survey suggests the number of wild beavers now living in Kent runs into the hundreds.

The animals, which were extinct in the UK for centuries, can even be spotted in the centre of Canterbury.

There have been increasing reports of beaver signs along the River Stour in East Kent and the data indicates that an established beaver population has been present for more than 10 years.

One of the report’s authors said Kent hosted the biggest population of beavers in England.

A former farm could be transformed into a nature reserve, if a public appeal for funds succeeds.

Broken Bridges Nature Reserve Ltd (BBNR), a non-profit organisation, has three months to raise £250,000 to buy the 33-acre site in Salisbury.

The land, known locally as Broken Bridges, encompasses the former Fitzgerald farm, close to the Churchfields industrial estate.

Jeremy Nettle, chair of BBNR, said it was an "exciting opportunity" to restore the land, boost biodiversity, and improve access to the site.

The Wildlife Trusts are urging the public to nurture nature this June to celebrate the tenth birthday of 30 Days Wild.

This year, the month-long nature challenge to do something wild every single day in June is backed by TV stars Dermot O’Leary, Liz Bonnin and Dr Amir Khan. Since 2015, over three million people have taken part including over 20,000 schools, 1,500 care homes and almost 2,000 businesses.

Locals are able to get their first glimpse of a popular bird that has started to arrive in Seaton Carew after a 3000-mile trip from Africa.

The legally-protected little terns are once again taking up residence on a small stretch of Seaton Carew Beach.

Little terns are the smallest of the five species of terns that breed in the UK and lay their eggs in shallow scrapes in the sand.

These nests are difficult to spot, putting them at risk of disturbance and damage.

Sewage has been pumped into a brook running through a picturesque village on the edge of the Chiltern Hills for nearly a week, The Independent can reveal.

A water recycling centre near Ivinghoe, Buckinghamshire, has been discharging waste into Coombe Bottom brook, which feeds into the Ourzel river, since the morning of 23 May.

Waste was still flowing into the waterway on Tuesday afternoon, Anglian Water, which operates the centre, confirmed after one of its engineers visited the site - but added this was due to heavy rain which takes several days to clear.

Campaigners said the “horrific” incident was yet another example of the “daily illegal sewage spills that take place across the country”.

An annual co-ordinated count of Whimbrel across Lancashire has shown that a young nature reserve in Grimsargh is proving to be increasingly popular with the species.

Whimbrel migrate from West African wintering grounds to breeding sites in Iceland each year, staging in the UK on their way north. Lancashire is a particularly popular county for staging birds, with roost sites including Grimsargh Wetlands, Alston Wetland, Barnacre Reservoirs and Chipping Moss.

Grimsargh Wetlands, located in the rural village of Grimsargh, is one of Lancashire's youngest nature reserves, but it has become a draw for waders including Whimbrel and Eurasian Curlew.

Research led by the University of Exeter and Devon Wildlife Trust based on a ten-year study of wild-living beavers in Devon shows that the animals are having a positive impact on flood and drought alleviation.

Having been hunted to extinction 400 years ago, beavers returned to England’s countryside when a population was discovered to be living on East Devon’s River Otter in 2014. No one knows how or by whom the animals were reintroduced, but in 2020 the beavers were given the legal right to stay. The charity Devon Wildlife Trust monitors the animals and estimates that the industrious rodents are now living in 20 separate family territories along the river and its tributaries.

Beavers are known as ‘ecosystem engineers’ for their unusual ability to shape their surroundings to suit themselves. They build dams on streams and other watercourses to create pools and wetlands where they feel secure to feed and interact with one another.

A central reservation of one of Scotland's busiest roads, the A9, is in a more natural state than the surrounding hills.

The central reservation of the A9 is an unlikely beacon for rewilding and every Scot should be able to see at least three mature trees from where they live and work, says a report launched by Woodland Trust Scotland at the Scottish Parliament on Tuesday 28 May 2024. The wide-ranging, 35-page policy paper aims to show how woods and trees can drive nature recovery to benefit everyone in Scotland.

Other proposals in ‘Trees and woods: at the heart of nature recovery in Scotland’ include a call for deer and grouse estates to switch to more nature-positive models.

A third osprey chick has hatched for the only breeding pair on England's south coast.

The latest arrival was born at 02:13 BST on Monday in Poole Harbour, Dorset.

It is the third year the pair, which are part of a reintroduction programme, have successfully bred.

Female osprey CJ7 has laid four eggs and the nest is being monitored on a webcam., external

Footage released by conservation charity, Birds of Poole Harbour,, external shows CJ7 feeding her three chicks.

A couple have said they were "fascinated" to find a large washed-up crab on a north Wales beach.

Amy Carter, 46, and her partner Scott Southey, 49, were walking at Talybont, near Barmouth, Gwynedd, last Monday when they found the crustacean, understood to be a spiny spider crab.

"I was a bit nervous," said Ms Carter. "Because it was extremely big. With his little hair-do of mussels that was stuck to him, it was very, very fascinating."

Spiny spider crabs are a common species in the UK.

Results are in for an innovative study into the feeding habits of one of the UK’s best loved seabirds, the Puffin. Published in the journal Avian Conservation and Ecology, this ground-breaking citizen science project, supported by The National Lottery Heritage Fund, invited members of the public, the 'Puffarazzi', to submit photos of Puffins carrying food for their chicks.

The photos were then analysed by a dedicated team of volunteers, dubbed “Puffineers” to determine the quantity and variety of prey that was caught and brought back to the nest for the developing Puffin chicks.

The Big Paddle Cleanup is returning for two weeks to continue our mission to improve precious blue places.

In 2023, over 2,600 paddlers took part in a bid to clear their local waterways of junk and plastic pollution, while raising more public awareness of the issue.

About 1,800 huge sacks were filled containing 6,767 plastic bottles, 2,739 glass bottles, 4,403 cans and 7,682 food packaging items.

This year’s Big Paddle Cleanup will run from 25 May to 9 June.

RARE amphibians are featured in the next episode of Springwatch, broadcasting live from a popular Dorset beauty spot.

Hengistbury Head will host the crew at Springwatch as they explore some of the coast's conservation areas and rare inhabitants.

The Natterjack Toad, one of the UK’s rarest amphibians, lives at Hengistbury Head under the watchful eye of the Amphibian and Reptile Conservation Trust.

The UK's first urban beavers were introduced into a west London nature reserve back in October. The family of five are part of a project that aims to get the public to engage with nature, to study biodiversity improvements and to monitor flood mitigation effects. Seven months on, how is it faring?

It is perfect weather for beavers. The rain is incessant as we trudge past the trees and through the long grass and into their habitat. But the rain cannot stop the wonder and enthusiasm for what is happening here.

This is Paradise Fields in Greenford in Ealing. It is a nature reserve next to a retail estate but it’s where seven months ago beavers were introduced. This is now very much their home and they are transforming the habitat.

They are so happy that the volunteers here think the beavers may be breeding, and offspring - or kits as they are known - might be on the way.

The swallowtail, Britain’s biggest butterfly, last year had its worst summer since scientific counting began in 1976. What followed was potentially more catastrophic: the deepest and longest winter floods in living memory across the Norfolk Broads, which is the only place where this spectacular insect still breeds.

The swallowtail fixes its chrysalis low down on reed stems and there were fears that many would perish if submerged in flood water.

So, two cheers: the adult swallowtail has emerged once again, quite early this year, and is flying at hotspots including Strumpshaw Fen and Hickling nature reserve.

The latest survey of the UK's resident Eurasian Woodcock population has shown that numbers are still declining overall, albeit at a slower rate than before.

The Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust (GWCT) and the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) teamed up in 2023 for the latest Breeding Woodcock Survey to gather up-to-date evidence on the changes to population size and distribution of this elusive bird. Woodcock's cryptic camouflage and secretive nocturnal behaviour have traditionally made it difficult to survey accurately.

More volunteers than ever contributed, and the results showed some encouraging signs that in parts of England numbers were increasing. In Northern Scotland, however, woodcock population estimates showed a very steep decline of almost half.

A huge project to create one of the biggest reedbeds in the UK at a quarry site is more than half complete.

The RSPB said work to expand its Ouse Fen nature reserve, north of Cambridge, started in 2001.

New wetland is being carefully created by the phased restoration of Needingworth Quarry, where sand and gravel are extracted for use by the construction industry.

Funding has been agreed for three river restoration projects in West Sussex.

Chichester District Council (CDC) is to invest £180,000 over the next three years on protecting rare habitats on the rivers Lavant, Ems and Hambrook.

The projects, which are being managed by the Western Sussex Rivers Trust, will focus on restoring the natural function in the river channels, tackling invasive non-native species and river re-meandering.

The council said it was funding "critical work".

The three waterways are among only 283 chalk streams and rivers in the world, according to CDC.

In my 20s I lived in Manchester, on the sixth floor of a block of council flats just off the A57, or Mancunian (Mancy) Way. A short walk from Manchester Piccadilly station and the city centre, it was grey, noisy and built up. I loved every piece of it – my first stab at adulthood, at living on my own. I painted my bedroom silver and slept on a mattress on the floor, and I grew sweetcorn, tomatoes and courgettes in pots on the balcony. (I was 24 – of course I grew sweetcorn on the balcony.)

I worked and played in the bars and clubs of Manchester’s gay village, and I would walk home in the early hours, keys poking through my clenched fist to protect me from would-be attackers, and I would see hedgehogs.

It never occurred to me that the hedgehogs might be in trouble, that they might not have the best time foraging beneath the ring road, beneath the noise and stench of the city. It occurred to me only that their presence was magical, and that seeing them on the grassy wastelands around my council estate, as I stumbled home from parties and nightclubs, was everything I loved about being alive.