UK Nature and Environment

Ten years ago the iconic golden eagle was a rare sight over the rolling hills of southern Scotland.

Livestock farmer Martin Hole grazes his organic sheep and cattle on 280 hectares of the Pevensey Levels, one of the most bio-diverse wetlands in the country.

Sediment collected during harbour maintenance is being used to restore saltmarsh habitats on the north-east Essex coast.

Nature lovers across the North East are being urged to wrap up warm and head out at dusk, as starling murmuration season continues.

“Crazy numbers” of lapwings have been reported by the RSPB along the Humber estuary.

The green forest hoverfly, distinctive for its metallic green and golden body and bright orange wings and legs, has increased in numbers that have far exceeded previous records.

A groundbreaking wildlife bridge is under construction in Gloucestershire, with completion expected for 2027. The Gloucestershire Way bridge, set to be the UK’s largest wildlife crossing, is part of the A417 Missing Link project, an initiative designed to build new roads while preserving the Cotswolds ' natural beauty and wildlife.

A bid to recognise Cambridgeshire’s chalk streams as a UNESCO Natural World Heritage Site will be put before parliament by a local MP.

The dog walker looked confused. ‘The reaves? I’m sorry. I’ve no idea what they are.’ He spoke with the kind of Devon accent that indicated a lifetime spent out on the hills of Dartmoor. ‘But, if it’s the Bronze Age settlement you’re looking for, then it’s up there on the top of that there hill,’ he said, pointing towards the summit of a boggy hillside swept in cold drizzle.

Why don’t we celebrate this day?

The Marine Biological Association (MBA) welcomes the news that the Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ) Agreement has now become UK law, having received Royal Assent. This marks the completion of the UK legislative process required to ratify and implement the landmark High Seas Treaty.

It will be much easier to shoot deer in England under government plans that aim to curb the damage the animals are doing to the country’s woodlands.

Beavers are continuing to enjoy valentines day as they spread the love in Studland in a rare sight, captured by the National Trust’s trail cam.

The number of grey seals born at a relatively new colony on the Suffolk coast has almost doubled this year, the National Trust revealed.

Volunteers across London are being enlisted to grow a threatened wildflower vital for bees, butterflies and rare moths, in an effort to stop one of the capital’s rarest plants from disappearing.

Britain’s landscape is highly fragmented by roads, with researchers from Cardiff University finding that more than 70% of the UK’s roadless areas are smaller than 1 km2. The researchers say that more than 60% of roadless patches in the UK are smaller than the typical area many common UK mammals need to survive, meaning species such as badgers and red foxes likely face a high risk of wildlife-vehicle collisions.

No one knows where they came from or how they ended up in Norfolk. But one thing is certain: now, there are two of them.

Storms and bad weather could have caused the deaths of dozens of puffins washed up on beaches, according to the RSPB.

A once rare raptor is making a slow comeback thanks to the painstaking restoration of their favourite habitat at a nature reserve in the south of Scotland.

Plastic bottles and debris which appears to have originated in Canada and dates back to the 1960s and 70s has washed up on an Orkney beach.

A new app has launched that aims to gamify birdwatching by allowing people to collect digital cards of UK bird species whenever they record seeing one.

A county council is prioritising beaver reintroduction and protection for bats and dormice as part of its nature recovery plan.

Forestry England is creating a landmark 303-hectare woodland in Staffordshire, the largest it has planted in more than 20 years. The new woodland, near the village of Abbots Bromley, will be called Bagots Park Wood, and is the latest site bought by Forestry England to expand the nation’s forests in their care.

A landscape restoration project inspired by one of the nation’s most beloved nature poets has already seen good results, according to the project’s chairman.

The recent rain hasn’t been bad for everyone.

Nature is in crisis, and Scotland must work ‘with urgency and at large scale’ to restore it, claims the country’s nature agency, NatureScot, as it sets out its ambitious vision for the next four years, writes Ann Wallace

A group of Kent volunteers is aiming to provide vital habitat for wildlife by planting about 3,800 yards (3,500m) of hedgerows in the countryside this year.

“Toad patrols” are out helping amphibians to cross roads in the South Downs as they make their annual return to ponds to breed.

A conservation charity has said plans to create wetlands in the west of the Isle of Man would serve as a “mosaic of wildlife features”.

A Welsh charity has bought more than 480 hectares (1,195 acres) in Ceredigion to establish Cymru’s “flagship” rewilding project, helping the country catch up with large-scale nature recovery projects under way elsewhere in the UK.

The Rothbury Estate is up for sale and potential buyers Northumberland Wildlife Trust and the Wildlife Trusts - a federation of 47 conservation charities - are two thirds of the way towards raising the £30m needed. The Wildlife Trusts says it plans to boost wildlife, restore bogs and promote nature-friendly farming on the site - but those plans are not popular with everyone.

From filthy rivers to the threat of flooding, Wales is facing “mounting environmental crises on multiple fronts”, campaigners have warned.

Conservationists undertaking wildlife restoration projects say there is “a moral imperative” to reintroduce endangered species into the wild.

On a wintry January day in Manchester, I crossed University Green, navigating a paved path behind our hotel through lush patches of lawn. It was the start of the inaugural “Wilding Gardens” conference. For two days, scientists and practitioners were gathering to discuss new ways to think about gardens and nature, about what nature needs to thrive, and the untapped potential of gardens – if we step back and allow ecological processes to unfold – to help counter climate change and biodiversity loss.

Britain’s fight against climate breakdown may usually look like windfarms or solar energy. But on miles of Lancashire coast the frontline is rather more festive.

Almost half of UK adults (49%) admit littering in the past 12 months.

A string of toxic pollution hotspots has been uncovered across Cumbria and Lancashire, with high levels of the banned cancer-causing “forever chemical” Pfos detected in rivers and groundwater at 25 sites.

After decades of decline, there are signs of hope for the capercaillie, one of Britain’s most endangered birds.

Last week, the Prime Minister set out his vision for Britain: a tolerant but assertive country, grounded in contribution, shared responsibilities, and pride in place. Promising to reverse the decline in our communities and give power, agency and control back to people who want to take action, Keir Starmer announced a further £800 million to the Government’s Pride in Place programme.

Loch Lomond & The Trossachs National Park Authority has been awarded over £670,000 by The National Lottery Heritage Fund to develop plans which could unlock a further £9.2 million for an ambitious, large-scale, long-term project to restore some of Scotland’s rarest woodlands, while creating new opportunities for local communities and supporting rural economies.

A multi-million-pound nature restoration project covering 3,000 hectares of land has launched in the Cotswolds.

Puffins exhausted from the recent storms have been washing up on beaches along Cornwall’s south coast.

“I love lichens. I really do.”

Centuries after they were wiped out, the reintroduction of beavers to the UK is gathering pace.

Leigh Morris, Director of International at The Wildlife Trusts, explains why last week’s conference in Manchester was a landmark moment for UK nature conservation

A New Forest nature recovery project is shedding new light on local bat populations and improving habitat for these elusive nocturnal hunters.

In autumn 2024 around 100 of the endangered native species were found dead in the River Wansbeck catchment – a nationally significant population.

Calls have been made for Surrey’s “most delicate and biodiverse” grassland habitats to be better protected by planning authorities from future developments.

Thousands of gannets have begun returning to Alderney’s seabird colonies, with the first birds landing earlier than expected this year.

Nature campaigners have called for “important” grassland habitats to be protected after a project recorded hundreds of sites in Surrey.

Shivering and rain-drenched at the side of a pond in Cornwall, a huddle of people watched in hushed silence as a beaver took its first tentative steps into its new habitat. As it dived into the water with a determined “plop” and began swimming laps, the suspense broke and everyone looked around, grinning.

A walrus has been spotted off the coast of Fife in a “rare sighting”.

Conservation efforts along the 153 miles of the River Thames have delivered mixed results for wildlife, according to a new report that finds improvements in some species and habitats alongside emerging threats from climate change and pollution.

“It’s just a happy thing to see - we should be hanging our heads in shame if we let the red squirrel fail,” says nature enthusiast Pete Muldoon.

A misty, rainy day in the uplands of Somerset and the mud was thick and sticky. In some patches, just putting one foot in front of the other without plunging into the mire felt like a win.

A LEADING wildlife charity has criticised plans to infill a Thurrock quarry that has become one of south Essex’s most important havens for rare insects, after the long delayed planning application was recommended for approval.

Plans for the Isle of Axholme to join a biosphere reserve network have been backed by councillors.

A live stream is being set up by a cathedral to follow the lives of peregrine falcons that are believed to have been at the site for 25 years.

Chris Packham filmed a West Country fox hunt to challenge what he describes as a “shocking lack of accountability” for those who take part in the sport.

A wildlife trust has explained how nature itself is repairing a peninsula split in two by a massive tidal surge more than a decade ago.

Is this Britain’s most unusual job? National Trust ranger Nick Dunnett spends his days combing the cellars of Lincolnshire’s Tattershall Castle looking for a protected species likened to a “mini dinosaur”.

Two new local nature reserves are to be proposed in Telford & Wrekin as the council aims to have the equivalent of 1,050 football pitches covered by special protected status.

Extinct moss is being reintroduced across Yorkshire’s moors in the fight against climate change.

A major Section 106 legal agreement has been signed to help deliver one of the biggest nature restoration projects in the UK.

Beavers are set to be released at two sites in south-west England as part of efforts to reintroduce the species into the wild.

A successful nature recovery project is branching out into new landscapes, creating and restoring vital wildlife corridors in two of the North York Moors’ most distinctive valleys.

A group of 60 volunteers are preparing for what they described as “toadmageddon”.

When Sam Beaumont sees a flash of red up a tree on his Lake District farm, he feels a swell of pride. He’s one of the few people in England who gets to see red squirrels in his back garden.

A GROUP of 30 young conservationists recently had an ‘unforgettable’ experience when they got to study the first wild fledged white-tailed eagle to be born in Dorset in nearly 240 years.

Hundreds of purposefully-designed leaky dams are due to be installed across Epping Forest to help slow down and manage flooding.

The Royal Forestry Society welcomes the recent (29 Jan) Policy Paper from Defra and the Forestry Commission on managing England’s grey squirrel population. The statement recognises the considerable threat grey squirrels pose to forestry, with an estimated population of 2.7 million across Great Britain causing £37m annual damage to British woodlands.

Work has been carried out at nature reserves in Weymouth to help the wildlife.

Through the conservation programme Species on the Edge, four disused military structures are being converted into safe breeding habitats for the threatened seabirds at the reserve, located on Scotland’s north-east coast.

A project to restore vast meadows of a saltwater plant to the Humber Estuary has reached a major milestone, experts say.