GreyShuck

Ahead of the Budget announcement on Wednesday 30th October, here are three key priorities The Wildlife Trusts will be watching for.

At COP16 – the global UN nature conference in Cali, Colombia – today is Finance and Biodiversity Day.

Increasing the amount invested in nature, as well as reducing the harmful subsidies for nature’s destruction, is critical to meeting the environmental goals the world signed up to through the Global Biodiversity Framework. This week, the UK Government has the perfect opportunity to demonstrate how this can be achieved at home as Rachel Reeves announces her Budget on Wednesday in one of the most anticipated moments of the new Government.

The Chancellor has promised to use Labour’s first budget in more than a decade to reboot economic growth by prioritising investment in infrastructure and repairing public services. But to get Britain growing, investment in repairing our natural infrastructure cannot be forgotten.

A free online skills development programme developed by the Scottish Wildlife Trust is now available to people and communities across Scotland.

Over the past two years, nearly 40 community leaders have taken part in the Nextdoor Nature Pioneers Programme, a training course which has equipped them with the knowledge, skills and confidence to organise positive action for nature and improve their neighbourhoods.

As of this week, the online modules from the programme are now freely accessible for anyone to sign up to. Subjects covered during the eight-week course range from basic wildlife ecology to how to secure funding for community projects, with a number of additional optional modules available once people have completed the course.

Planners have backed proposals to plant about 30,000 trees as part of the creation of a nature reserve on the Isle of Man.

Situated at Creg y Cowin Farm, in East Baldwin, the plans submitted by nature charity Manx Wildlife Trust are part of a wider £38m rainforest restoration scheme across the British Isles.

Some 25 different species of trees native to the island would be planted across the 105-acre site, formerly used for sheep grazing, for carbon sequestration.

Cheshire’s ancient woodlands are a cherished part of the county’s natural heritage, offering not just a haven for wildlife but also a repository of memories for generations of local people. These woodlands, some of which have existed since medieval times, provide an enchanting escape into nature and a living connection to the past. As we look to the future, there is enormous potential to increase our native tree cover, benefiting wildlife, farming and the wider environment.

For many of us who grew up in Cheshire, woodlands hold a special place in our hearts. As children, we often wandered through these magical forests, our imaginations set free by the towering trees and the dappled sunlight that filtered through the canopy. In woodlands and forests such as Delamere Forest and Marbury Country Park, the massive oaks and beeches provided perfect hiding spots, their gnarled trunks offering refuge from friends during games of hide and seek. The thrill of being discovered or finding a new hiding place is a memory many of us cherish deeply.

A microscopic beetle has been discovered at a nature reserve.

The smallest beetle in Europe, measuring just 0.4mm in length, has been discovered at Rutland Water.

It is only the third time this species has been recorded in Britain and the first time it has been found outside of East Anglia.

Bats are traditionally linked to Halloween and at Longleat in Wiltshire, 14 different species of the flying mammal have been identified including several of the rarest in the UK.

Across the world, bats are heavily persecuted due to fictional associations with evil, yet they play an important part in ecosystems, for example in pollination and seed dispersal says Longleat’s conservation and research manager Dr Tom Lewis.

“Bechstein’s bat, which we believe is breeding on the estate, has become one of our rarest bats, largely due to the widespread destruction of ancient woodlands that once blanketed the country,” he said.

Thousands of people from the Midlands will be joining forces to highlight the importance of clean water in their lives.

Friends of the River Wye, and SafeAvon are just some of the 130 groups taking part in a London rally organised by the campaign charity River Action.

The RSPB, the National Trust and the World Wildlife Fund will be joined by naturalist Chris Packham, broadcasters Carol Vorderman and Liz Bonnin and Olympic rowing champion Imogen Grant in the capital on Sunday.

Tonnes of carbon dioxide could be absorbed from the atmosphere after almost 300,000 trees were planted, an environmental group has said.

Over the last 12 months, an army of volunteers for the North East Community Forest also planted hedgerows in parts of Northumberland, Newcastle, Gateshead, Sunderland and rural County Durham.

The group said it estimated the trees would capture about 51,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere over 30 years.

More than 2,000 people took part in the scheme.

Excitement is building for the incredible murmurations the city is treated to every year as the starlings begin to return home.

The awe-inspiring displays see the birds dancing and whirling across the sky for protection as they prepare to settle down for the night.

Starlings group together in these magnificent spectacles across Sussex but the murmuration between the Palace Pier and the West Pier in Brighton is arguably the most famous in the county.

The recovery of nature must be a primary focus for government and developers, writes Erin McDaid of Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust.

The Wildlife Trusts’ new report, Swift and Wild: How to build houses and restore nature together, calls for a strategic approach to planning and housebuilding as part of efforts to achieve wider environmental targets, including net-zero and protecting 30% of land for nature by 2030.

It also highlights the importance of embedding efforts to improve energy efficiency and delivering fair access to nature into the housebuilding process.

Plans have been submitted for a one kilometre long barrier near Plémont in Jersey that would offer better protection for puffins and other endangered birds.

It would work by preventing attacks from ferrets and other non-native predators.

The initial proposal was for the barrier to be three kilometres long, but the length was reduced after people's concerns were taken into account.

The island's puffin numbers have plummeted - there were a few hundred just a century ago but now there are just six remaining.

More than 100 competitors put their chainsaw skills to the test at the national hedgelaying championships earlier.

They were cheered on by hundreds of spectators at Driffield's Elmswell Farms, showcasing 10 regional styles.

Josie Muncaster, 31, styles her hedges in that of her home county, Cheshire.

She said "you don't have to be Superman" to take up the activity, but that she no longer "needs to go to the gym, which is nice".