UK Nature and Environment

Tadpoles have decided not to turn into frogs because of this year's bad weather.

The young amphibians usually begin their transition into frogs in the UK during April and May, but they have been seen still swimming in Cumbria.

Jodie Mills, from the West Cumbria Rivers Trust, said tadpoles had been spotted in a river in the Walkmill Community Woodland, near Moresby Parks.

She said the animals decided early in the year whether they would stay as tadpoles or "metamorphosise into tiny baby frogs", depending on whether conditions were right.

Labour’s carbon-capture scheme will be Starmer’s white elephant: a terrible mistake costing billions George Monbiot George Monbiot

The supposedly green project – brainchild of the previous Tory government – will increase emissions, not reduce them Fri 11 Oct 2024 06.00 BST

This will be Keir Starmer’s HS2: a hugely expensive scheme that will either be abandoned, scaled back or require massive extra funding to continue, after many billions have been spent. The government’s plan for carbon capture and storage (CCS) – catching carbon dioxide from major industry and pumping it into rocks under the North Sea – is a fossil fuel-driven boondoggle that will accelerate climate breakdown. Its ticket price of £21.7bn is just the beginning of a phenomenal fiscal nightmare.

There might be a case for a CCS programme if the following conditions were met. First, that the money for cheaper and more effective projects had already been committed. The opposite has happened. Labour slashed its green prosperity plan from £28bn a year to £15bn, and with it a sensible and rational programme for insulating 19m homes.

The government boasts that its CCS scheme will be “the equivalent of taking around 4m cars off the road”. But at far lower cost, through a rational transport policy, it could remove millions of real cars from the roads, while improving our mobility, cutting air pollution and releasing land for green spaces and housing.

NatureScot is urging gardeners to take a break this autumn and leave their gardens alone to help struggling pollinators over the winter.

In fact, taking a rest from gardening over autumn and winter is probably even more beneficial for bees and other pollinators than planting pollinator-friendly flowers for spring and summer.

Sarah Smythe, NatureScot Biodiversity Adviser, said:

“This is a double win: it’s good news for gardeners, allowing you to swap your winter secateurs and spade for a cup of tea and a seed catalogue, while you’re also helping pollinators and doing your bit for nature.

“The most important thing you can do to help pollinators is increase the safe places where they can survive over the winter – and that means leaving your garden a bit messy over the winter!”

A council is offering to pay for rewilding projects, where land is returned to a more natural state.

South Kesteven District Council (SKDC) said its new biodiversity project, Make Space for Nature, would help "turn areas all shades of green through proactive rewilding".

The scheme, open to town and district councils, would fund all costs associated with projects.

A herd of beefy, long-horned tauros are to be released into a Highlands rewilding project to replicate the ecological role of the aurochs, an extinct, huge herbivore that is the wild ancestor of cattle.

The tauros have been bred in the Netherlands in recent years to fill the niche vacated by the aurochs, which once shaped landscapes and strengthened wildlife across Europe.

Trees for Life, the rewilding charity, is planning to create the first British herd of up to 15 of the animals on its 4,000-hectare (9,884-acre) Dundreggan estate near Loch Ness, in a scientific research project aimed at enhancing biodiversity, education and ecotourism.

“Introducing the aurochs-like tauros to the Highlands four centuries after their wild ancestors were driven to extinction will refill a vital but empty ecological niche – allowing us to study how these remarkable wild cattle can be a powerful ally for tackling the nature and climate emergencies,” said Steve Micklewright, the chief executive of Trees for Life...

Plans to help critically endangered bats in a nature reserve have moved a step forward.

A fundraising target to support the Bechstein bats at Trowbridge's Green Lane Wood Nature Reserve, Wiltshire, has been hit, which has unlocked £20,000.

Wiltshire Wildlife Trust will spend the money on new bat roosts, ponds, bat monitoring and public education.

The trust's grant's officer Debbie Bentley said the charity had been worried amid declining numbers over recent years. She added the money will help to maintain a "strong and healthy" colony.

Most of the £20,000 is coming from the Suez Landfill Fund, external. This stipulates that 10% needs to come from elsewhere, which the trust has now raised.

A new approach is needed if we are to save nature that is the stark warning to be issued today (Wednesday 9 October) by the Chair of Natural England Tony Juniper, as he launches a major new report on the state of our natural world.

The State of Natural Capital Report, published by Natural England, will provide a unique insight into the vital role that healthy nature plays in underpinning our economic health.

The report provides a comprehensive assessment of the state of our ecosystem assets, such as wetlands and forests, and the important role they play in sustaining us and the risks to society and the economy if the status quo is maintained.

This autumn, the RSPB in Dorset has begun work to restore and protect two areas of precious peatland.

RSPB sites at Stoborough Heath and Salterns Copse, near Wareham, are being re-wetted, having dried out over the years, to recreate the perfect conditions for peat to once again flourish.

Dorset's peatlands offer homes for a range of wildlife and plant life, including rare species, such as the Southern Damselfly.

Swift and wild: How to build houses and restore nature together calls for a strategic approach towards housebuilding as part of achieving environmental targets, including net-zero and protecting 30% of land for nature by 2030. The report highlights the importance of improving energy efficiency and access to nature during the housebuilding process.

The UK Government has pledged to build 1.5 million homes over the next five years. It recently announced a consultation to revise planning policy in England to deliver more affordable, well-designed homes quickly, grow the economy and support green energy.

The Wildlife Trusts’ report identifies various approaches to development that can have positive impacts for nature, climate and communities. They include community energy schemes, urban habitat creation, sustainable drainage systems, wildlife-friendly lighting and local food growing opportunities. The Wildlife Trusts want developers to learn from each other to deliver affordable, efficient and nature-friendly housing.

"We've had massive declines all across Northern Ireland, but I'm really proud to say this bird is still holding on and it's still doing well in Fermanagh."

RSPB Reserves Manager Amy Burns has watched the return of the curlew to her beloved Lough Erne over the past four years of the EU-funded Curlew LIFE project., external

The scheme has also seen the species flourish at Glenwherry in the Antrim Plateau.

In this final year, breeding pairs have reached 52 in Glenwherry and there have been a record 20 fledglings on the Lower Lough Erne Islands Reserve.

A consultation has started on whether the Yorkshire Wolds should be made an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB).

The chalk hills run from the Vale of York in North Yorkshire to the East Yorkshire coast.

Based on public feedback, Natural England could ask the government to designate it as an AONB.

If approved, it would mean the area would be given some legal protection covering development and conservation.

The Crown Estate has published a new ambition for Nature Recovery that will drive a consistent approach across its diverse assets on land and seabed, following a 12-month engagement process with a wide range of nature experts and organisations.

To ensure cohesive action across a diverse array of habitats and interconnected ecosystems, The Crown Estate sets out company-wide nature goals and commitments that will raise the bar on its ambitions for Nature Recovery. These goals set the focus of its delivery plan and there will be a further update published in 2025 with public targets and KPIs.

The ambition brings together The Crown Estate’s work on nature recovery from across its portfolio, integrating the approach with addressing other national needs including the development of offshore wind to enable secure and affordable energy; building homes; developing places; supporting food production; and creating economic opportunity.

A "truly stunning bird" native to Africa has been spotted at a nature reserve in Lancashire.

As many as 100 hoopoes migrate north to Europe in the spring but are not typically seen this late in the year.

One has arrived at Lower Foulridge Reservoir in Pendle, much to the delight of birdwatchers.

Andy Powell, the chairman of the East Lancashire Ornithologists' Club, said an easterly wind had led to an influx of hoopoe into the country, mainly on the east coast and further south.

Salmon numbers in England and Wales last year were the lowest on record, figures show, as pollution and climate breakdown are killing off the endangered fish.

A report from the Environment Agency and Cefas shows Atlantic salmon stocks in England and Wales have dropped to their lowest level since records began in 1997.

Once common across the waterways of the UK, the fish are now a rare sight for anglers, who log each fish they catch to build up a national picture of the species’ plight. Scientists also set up nets in salmon rivers to chart the prevalence of the fish.

Birdwatchers have been flocking to Swansea Bay to catch sight of a rare hoopoe bird.

The colourful feathered bird is noted for its crest or "crown" which it raises when it's excited.

They don't breed in the UK and a sighting in south Wales is very unusual.

But every year a few hoopoes are blown off course and they may be seen from time to time on the south coast of England.

Once a common sight on Britain’s riverbanks, the much-adored “Ratty” has become a rarity on many of the UK’s waterways.

But now the animal made famous by The Wind in the Willows is making a remarkable comeback in the South Downs National Park, with a detailed ecological report showing that water voles are indeed thriving, and busily breeding, on the River Meon in Hampshire.

The scientific survey comes just over a decade after a local reintroduction programme of the water vole, which remains the country’s fastest declining mammal species, losing 95 per cent of its range over the past 100 years. The biggest reasons for the decline have been habitat loss and predation by the non-native American Mink.

An investigation by the Office for Environmental Protection (OEP) has found the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (Daera) did not comply with environmental law in previous ammonia emissions advice to planners.

But it has closed its investigation, as a new Operational Protocol is expected this year and the guidance currently in place does not amount to a failure to comply with the law.

The Operational Protocol was used by the Northern Ireland Environment Agency to give advice to planning authorities when assessing livestock development applications that could have an impact on environmentally important sites.

Chris Packham is challenging the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, to support rewilding across the Church of England’s vast estate.

The broadcaster is taking to the steps of St Paul’s Cathedral on Sunday, to call on the Church to commit to rewilding 30% of Church Commissioners – the Church’s investment arm – to rewild its extensive landholdings.

Packham, dressed in a medieval costume, will unveil a nine metre-long scroll, outlining why the organisation should rewild 30% of its 105,000-acre estate by 2030 in line with the UN’s Global Biodiversity Framework.

Radnorshire Wildlife Trust (RWT) has reached the midpoint of its Wilder Pentwyn project.

The two-year project’s vision is to transform the land at the 164-acre Pentwyn Farm, near Llanbister, and work with communities and landowners to deliver nature recovery at scale, whilst still making space for local food production.

This is all made possible through The National Lottery Heritage Fund.

A new island has been built at a nature reserve to support a colony of seabirds devastated by bird flu.

RSPB Saltholme in Stockton, Teesside, hopes common terns, roseate terns and black-headed gulls will use it as nesting space.

The three species have been placed on a conservation watch list by the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO).

Concerns over the creation of a new national park in northeast Wales have been flagged on the eve of a fresh public consultation exercise. Critics say the Welsh Government has yet to address vital aspects of the proposal.

Natural Resources Wales (NRW) has been tasked with investigating how a national park could be set up based around the Clwydian Range and Dee Valley National Landscape (formerly an AONB). Initial plans were tweaked following public feedback earlier this year and these will be shared during a second round of consultations starting on Monday, October 7. A revised map of the target area will also be released on the same date.

Implementation is possible as early as 2026 but Llyr Gruffydd, Plaid Cymru’s North Wales MS, warned that key questions remain unanswered. He called on ministers to address fundamental issues (see below) before he and “many of his constituents” can support the proposals.

A SCOTTISH local authority’s refusal of a phone mast in a designated Wild Land Area (WLA) has been overturned in a planning appeal.

Perth and Kinross Council has now told the Sunday National it will have to take account of the decision when considering permission for more masts in beauty spots in the controversial rollout.

It is feared the appeal’s success will pave the way to a blight of phone masts in scenic areas where they are not needed.

A disused treehouse in Worcestershire is set to be transformed into a bat hotel.

The Worcestershire Wildlife Trust is converting the wooden structure at The Knapp and Papermill Nature Reserve, to home a roost of lesser horseshoe bats.

The treehouse will have perch points installed, as well as being insulated and made dark on the inside.

Out of the 18 species of bats that breed in the UK, 14 can be found in Worcestershire and 11 of those will roost at the reserve.

A festival showcasing the benefits of seagrass in restoring marine habitats is set to return to Hull for a third year.

The Super Seagrass Festival is taking place at The Deep on 12 and 13 October.

Organisers said it was a chance to learn how seagrass meadows benefited the marine environment and how the plant stores carbon, helping to tackle climate change.

Visitors would also be encouraged to make up hessian seagrass seed bags to be planted at Spurn Point, a spokesperson said.