UK Nature and Environment

Plans have been unveiled to reintroduce White-tailed Eagle to Cumbria.

White-tailed Eagle was once found across Cumbria, with the last recorded breeding attempt near Haweswater in 1787. Now, the Cumbrian White-tailed Eagle Project has been exploring the possibility of bringing the species back to the county.

The raptor has been successfully reintroduced to Scotland and the Isle of Wight, as well as to Ireland. There are now breeding populations across Scotland and Ireland, while in 2023 a White-tailed Eagle chick was born in southern England for the first time in 243 years.

Farmers and landowners in Higher Tier agri-environment schemes are facing uncertainty as they lack a clear pathway into the newer Environmental Land Management (ELM) schemes.

The NFU is calling on Defra to give farmers in existing Higher Tier schemes access to equal payments for options delivering the same outcomes in other ELM schemes, such as the Sustainable Farming Incentive and Countryside Stewardship (CS).

Many farmers with Higher Tier stewardship agreements ending this year – and many others on annual rollovers on historic payments – have been left unable to apply for a newer Higher Tier ELM scheme because it hasn’t been made available.

Beavers have been born in Hampshire for the first time in 400 years.

The two baby beavers, known as kits, were first spotted in early July in an enclosure on the Ewhurst Park estate near Basingstoke, its team announced on Tuesday.

The kits have since been captured on camera, swimming, splashing and gnawing on bark.

One of the most ambitious peatland restoration projects ever consented to a developer in the UK is now complete on the outskirts of East Kilbride.

ScottishPower Renewables' £1.4 million project marks a significant milestone in valuable habitat conservation and climate change mitigation at Whitelee Windfarm in Eaglesham, bringing SPRs investment in peatland restoration to £4million to date.

Degraded peatlands release harmful greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, accounting for around 15 per cent of Scotland’s emissions, but healthy peatlands store carbon and have a net cooling effect on the climate, so they’re critical to mitigating the effects of climate change.

Draught horses are being put to work in south-west London as part of a council's bid to "enhance" its grasslands.

The horses are pulling mowers and harrows - heavy frames with teeth or tines that are dragged over land to stir the soil - in Wandsworth Park and King George’s Park to create wildflower meadows.

Wandsworth Council said the traditional method allowed horses’ hooves to create small gaps in the grass, helping wildflower seeds to take root more effectively.

A Suffolk wildlife and conservation charity has called for "greater transparency" from Sizewell C in relation to its wildlife compensation schemes.

Earlier in September, developers of the new Sizewell C nuclear power station announced a new partnership with the nature restoration movement WildEast to promote the return of land to nature across the region.

In announcing the partnership, Sizewell C flagged up how it had pledged to return a large part of the land to nature during the construction of the new power station.

"The UK government is planning to appoint a special envoy for nature for the first time, as the foreign secretary, David Lammy, seeks to put the UK at the centre of global efforts to tackle the world’s ecological crises, the Guardian has learned.

Labour will also appoint a new climate envoy, after the Tories abolished the post over a year ago, a move that dismayed foreign governments and climate campaigners..."

Public outrage over river pollution has been heartening to see. Over the past few years, stories about sewage contamination in rivers have captured public attention, and prompted campaigns and protests, such as the forthcoming River Action UK march for clean water on 26 October in London. It is important to protect our rivers because they are biodiversity hotspots and essential for human health. However, as a freshwater ecologist, I know there is more nuance to the story than you may have been led to believe. From my perspective, there is some good news when it comes to our rivers. I would even say that some rivers in England are in the best state they have been in for hundreds of years.

Many rivers in England are polluted, but we need to recognise that this is not an emerging issue but a much longer-standing one that has been largely ignored by the media and politicians for decades. Much of the recent furore over pollution has to do with increased awareness, rather than a sudden increase in pollution itself. It’s only by understanding how these ecosystems have changed over time and reflecting on previous successes that we can make real progress.

The British Government is being urged to “boldly commit” to rewilding 30 per cent of land and seas by 2030, as polling shows high levels of support for the approach.

Charity Rewilding Britain is also urging the new Labour Government to expand nature-based jobs and businesses, boost access to nature for people to benefit health and well-being, empower communities to lead the way with rewilding, and create a “game-changing” shift in rewilding funding and investment.

The call comes on the back of polling of more than 2,200 people by YouGov for Rewilding Britain which suggests that more than 83 per cent of people support rewilding, a slight increase on 81 per cent in polling in 2021.

A project to increase the number of plover birds has been hailed a success.

The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) said chick numbers had increased after efforts by volunteers to keep visitors and dogs away from coastal nests at Snettisham, Norfolk.

The ringed plover, with its black eye mask and distinctive orange and black-tipped bills, were red-listed by the bird charity, after their breeding populations suffered declines of greater than 50%.

Three years ago, 40 pairs of birds fledged 19 chicks, rising to 71 this year after funding from the Borough Council of King's Lynn and West Norfolk, and nature reserve Wild Ken Hill.

Cattle egret birds have nested at a wetland site in West Sussex for the first time.

Three nests, all with hatched, active chicks, have been spotted at WWT Arundel Wetland Centre.

The birds were uncovered by reserve manager Suzi Lanaway after she heard the noise of chicks last week.

Dolphins gliding across the water of a Hampshire beach have been captured on camera by a stunned passer-by.

Sarah Coulson was walking along the beach at Barton-on-Sea this morning when movement in the sea caught her eye.

A pod of dolphins was spotted swimming in the sunshine.

She immediately stopped to take a video, zooming in to watch the dolphins appear above the surface of the sea, before disappearing again.

From photographs of a majestic kingfisher playing in the rain to a water vole enjoying a salad lunch, the winners of an annual nature photography competition have been revealed.

Norfolk Wildlife Trust (NWT) announced the winners of its 2024 nature photography competition, which saw more than 600 entries.

The photographs beautifully captured various species found in Norfolk with Stuart Merchant's photograph of two emperor dragonflies being declared the overall winner.

The number of rare bats in a Devon town has "plummeted", a bat-observing group has said.

Be Buckfastleigh, a community interest group, said the decline of greater horseshoe bats in the town was "alarming".

Director and resident Pam Barrett has been observing the protected species for about 10 years and said her group would normally expect to see around a thousand bats at this time of year.

However she said earlier this year they had counted "as few as 20" greater horseshoe bats in Buckfastleigh.

The Severn Valley Water Management Scheme ‘demonstrator project’ is managed by Shropshire Council through the River Severn Partnership and has its focus on the Rea Brook, which flows into the River Severn in Shrewsbury.

It aims to provide a suite of nature-based flood management schemes that will demonstrate different measures that can both hold back water and also enhance habitat and biodiversity.

When you think of rainforests your mind likely jumps to the forests of Borneo or the Amazon. What you may not realise is that there are incredible rainforests right here in Wales. These temperate rainforests create a habitat which is globally rare, and considered to be more threatened than tropical rainforest.

A new project that aims to deepen people’s connection to nature and increase awareness of climate change has been awarded £1.1 million from The National Lottery Community Fund.

Over the next five years, and thanks to the support of National Lottery players, River Esk Connect (REConnect) will see schools, community groups, and volunteers take part in learning days and conservation activities including wildlife surveys, invasive species control, river monitoring and hedge laying. The project aims to inspire people to take the lead with environmental activities in their own communities, ensuring the River Esk and surrounding area grows as a nature-rich landscape that is protected for future generations.

REConnect is led by a group of organisations including the North York Moors National Park Authority, Yorkshire Wildlife Trust, Groundwork, and the Yorkshire Marine Nature Partnership, bringing together experts in climate, ecology and community action.

A breeding programme is set to boost a critically endangered species.

About 120 young freshwater pearl mussels are being released into a Gwynedd river to help the species.

The mussels were raised at Natural Resources Wales’s (NRW) captive-rearing facility near Brecon.

They will be released into the river following extensive habitat restoration works in 2022.

Thousands of wildflowers are being planted in the Lake District as part of efforts to restore traditional hay meadows.

More than 5,500 are being plug planted during September at Boon Crag Farm on the shores of Coniston.

Once established, they will provide habitat for wildlife including bees and butterflies, as well as providing benefits to grazing livestock, the National Trust (NT) said.

Time-honoured techniques are bringing nature back to life in Kent.

Scotney Castle, near Lamberhurst, is owned by the National Trust and has started using horses for mowing duties to help grow wildflower meadows on the estate.

The Oakwood Clydesdale horses - called Percy and Frank – are used as they cause less damage to the soil and wildlife when clearing vegetation compared to modern machines, the trust said.

They are also more environmentally friendly than heavy machinery since they do not need fossil fuels, it adds.

More than 100 water voles have been released at the Nene Wetlands Nature Reserve as part of ambitious plans to restore the species to Northamptonshire.

Last week 116 water voles bred in captivity were released to the nature reserve and more will follow next year. The release was funded and licensed by Natural England as part of its Species Recovery Programme. Find out more about the funding in this blog Species Recovery Programme Capital Grant Scheme awards – Natural England (blog.gov.uk).

Water voles in Northamptonshire are now restricted to a few isolated colonies. The last records for the area around Nene Wetlands Nature Reserve are from around the year 2000. The Wildlife Trust has been working with partners in the county including Stanwick Lakes country park and Water Resources East to create the right conditions for water voles return. It is hoped that this project will be the start of a meta population of water voles which can then expand across Northamptonshire.

The rare and illusive One-flowered Wintergreen Moneses uniflora, a small flowering plant found in pine woodlands, has defied expectations of Plantlife Scotland and partners in the UK’s first ever project to restore the species.

One-flowered Wintergreen has seen a 70% survival success rate following a translocation (movement of a species from one location to another) from a secure population of the species in Roseisle Forest and Old Grantown Wood to RSPB Abernethy, led by Plantlife Scotland.

The flower has suffered a sharp decline globally and it is estimated that in the last 50 years over half of the UK population has been lost, with only two known remaining patches in the Cairngorms National Park and as few as just seven populations in the whole country.

A record total of 55 pairs of Chough attempted to breed in Cornwall this year.

The red-billed corvid began to recolonise Cornwall in 2001 after 28 years of absence from the county. The 2024 breeding season was the best yet, with a record number of breeding pairs and a total of 108 young known to have successfully fledged. This follows an expansion in the range of Chough in Cornwall, with birds now readily found in inland areas.

This year’s breeding season for endangered hen harriers at an upland nature reserve has been the most successful for 30 years.

RSPB staff and volunteers worked around the clock at the Geltsdale reserve on the border of Northumberland and Cumbria to monitor the nests. Teams worked in shifts, concealing themselves a safe distance away and watching the nests with thermal binoculars at night to ensure the birds were not disturbed.

Eight hen harrier chicks have fledged at the RSPB nature reserve this year. Two pairs of hen harriers each produced four chicks. One of the pairs, including a satellite-tagged female, also bred in 2023.