UK Nature and Environment

As part of the programme, more than 500 schools and nurseries have been awarded a share of a £5 million grant to turn grey areas of their school grounds green

· More than 1 in 8 schools and colleges across all regions of England have joined the National Education Nature Park programme in its first year

· The programme's first annual report shows that children and young people have mapped more than 2 million m2 of habitats across the education estate, equivalent to about 1600 Olympic-size swimming pools, and created new habitats including green walls and ponds

The research is part of the National Honey Monitoring Scheme, which began in 2018.

Working with beekeepers across the country, the project has built up a honey archive to monitor long-term patterns and trends.

Dr Lindsay Newbold, a molecular microbial ecologist at UKCEH, said bees were "amazing".

"They're sort of like our remote samplers," she said.

"They go out, they explore the environment, they go and actually look for all the plants... then they bring it back to the hive and they make honey."

The honey is then analysed for pollen grains to help scientists build a picture of plant species present around the hives, which change with the environmental conditions.

A nature reserve in Essex is to undergo a significant transformation after receiving a £190,000 grant.

Langdon Nature Discovery Park will use the cash from the Veolia Environmental Trust to create a new pond-dipping station and make substantial conservation improvements.

The current pond-dipping station, built in the early 1990s, is no longer safe for public use. The new structure will host more than 40 supervised sessions each summer, catering for more than 850 people.

Innovate UK and Defra fund 19 business-led environmental monitoring projects looking at biodiversity, soil health, water quality and greenhouse gas emissions.

The UK relies on effective environmental monitoring to support decision making, for example on actions needed to tackle the impacts of climate change, pollution and biodiversity loss.

Some traditional methods of environmental monitoring can be slow, limited in scope and unable to capture the full complexity of these rapidly evolving issues.

Thirty conservation volunteers from Yorkshire have spent 500 hours in all weathers during May, June, July, and August monitoring RSPB Bempton Cliffs’ threatened Kittiwake population. Home to the UK’s largest mainland seabird colony, around half a million seabirds make these spectacular East Yorkshire chalk cliffs their home in the summer.

Now on the Red list of highest conservation concern (added in 2021, changing from Amber), the UK’s Kittiwake population has, shockingly, declined by 43% over the last 25 years and the colony at RSPB Bempton Cliffs is one of international significance.

RSPB Bempton Cliffs is a significant part of the Flamborough and Filey Coast Special Protection Area, which holds more than 20% of the UK breeding population of Kittiwakes, so monitoring is crucial to understanding how the population is faring. Each conservation volunteer was given 50 nests to monitor within a specified ‘plot’ and they painstakingly recorded how many eggs were produced and crucially how many chicks fledged from each nest. 865 individual nests were checked weekly across 16 study plots around the Bempton Cliffs, Flamborough and Filey seabird colony.

The Kittiwake study is part of a wider programme of monitoring productivity rates for Gannets, Guillemots, Razorbills, Herring Gulls, Shags and Fulmars, supported by Natural England and the renewable energy company Orsted. Bempton’s Puffins are trickier to monitor, as they nest in burrows in the cliff face, and the Pufflings fledge at night to avoid predators, and so it’s very difficult to know how many of their chicks are fledging.

CAMPAIGNERS say there is ‘still a long way to go’ after news that kingfishers are the latest species to return to the once ‘ecologically dead’ River Lim.

The west Dorset river was described as ‘ecologically dead’ last year after sewage was poured into it.

Data gathered by the River Trust on the River Lim showed an exponential rise in human waste surging into the river from storage tanks at a nearby South West Water treatment centre.

Shocked former freshwater ecologist Graham Roberts said in May 2023 that the river, which flows through Uplyme and Lyme Regis, was 'absolutely disgusting'.

But News readers have now told of their delight after dippers and, more recently, a kingfisher was seen on the west Dorset river.

A group of wild boar have been spotted wandering past a pub.

The footage was captured outside the Golden Lion in Cinderford, Gloucestershire, on 2 October.

Boar were hunted to extinction 700 years ago, but became established again in the Forest of Dean in the 1990s.

Forestry Commission wildlife rangers monitor numbers in the Forest of Dean each spring and carry out culls, if necessary, to keep the target population to about 400.

The boars have been known to go hunting for food in the local neighbourhoods when foraging becomes harder in the nearby forest.

As 90 per cent of the habitats that waxcaps thrive in have been destroyed over the past 70 years, The Yorkshire Post finds out why an area in Calderdale is akin to the Amazon for these ancient fungi.

It’s a little known fact, but Yorkshire is one of the best places in the world for some of the world’s rarest mushrooms, and October 5 is UK Fungus Day, the National Trust is taking the opportunity to shout about those which can be found at its site at Hardcastle Crags in Calderdale.

Around 120 species of ancient grassland fungi, often known as waxcaps, can be found in pastures around West Yorkshire.

East Sussex Wildlife Trust has identified Rye Harbour Nature Reserve as one of the key areas in its blue carbon mapping project.

​Blue carbon is a concept within climate change mitigation that refers to biologically driven carbon fluxes and storage in marine systems.

A spokesperson for the wildlife charity said: “In Sussex, our key areas of work in relation to blue carbon include Rye Harbour Nature Reserve, where we are working to protect approximately 26 hectares of vital saltmarsh habitat.

Nestled in the Cairngorms, Mar Lodge Estate National Nature Reserve is one of Scotland’s most ecologically diverse areas. It has been in the care of the National Trust for Scotland since 1995 and has played host to a series of remarkable projects in conservation and biodiversity.

It was thanks to a significant contribution of over £10 million from the National Lottery Heritage Fund, along with support from private donors like the Easter Charitable Trust, that the Trust was able to secure this magnificent estate. The property covers more than 29,000 hectares of astonishing Scottish landscape: heather-covered moorland, Caledonian pine forest, towering mountains and the Quoich wetlands. Its acquisition marked a turning point for our charity, enabling us to launch large-scale conservation and restoration projects to safeguard the estate’s landscapes and biodiversity for future generations. Furthermore, a portion of the funding was set aside as an endowment to fund long-term maintenance and support ongoing conservation efforts.

As we now approach the National Lottery’s 30th birthday, we are grateful that we were one of the first organisations to receive funding of this nature from the National Lottery. Since the first draw in 1994, over £49 billion has been raised for good causes and awarded through more than 690,000 individual grants. Thanks to National Lottery players, support has been given to a vast array of projects, ranging from strengthening local communities and powering sports teams to unlocking creative talent and supporting environmental projects such as those at Mar Lodge.

UK Fungus Day is an annual celebration of our fungal world, offering something for everyone. Alongside the many UK-based groups, museums, universities and research centres offering a chance to join fungus walks, view fungi collections and visit exhibitions of the latest fungal science and technology, UK Fungus Day invites everyone to join in, delve deeper and learn more about fungi through art and performance, crafts and creations, online talks, quizzes and competitions.

The UK will miss the UN’s deadline to publish a new national plan for how it will address nature loss ahead of the COP16 biodiversity summit in Colombia this month, Carbon Brief understands.

At COP15 in 2022, countries agreed to submit new national nature plans – known as “national biodiversity strategies and action plans”, or NBSAPs – “ahead” of COP16, which will take place in Cali from 21 October to 1 November.

In December 2023 at the COP28 climate summit in Dubai, the UK pledged to publish its nature strategy by May of this year – and even organised a launch event at Wicken Fen nature reserve in Cambridge for that month – before a change of government in Scotland forced a postponement.

A petition calling for stronger laws to protect important trees like the Sycamore Gap is tantalisingly close to its 100,000 target, says the UK’s largest woodland conservation charity.

A year after the Sycamore Gap trees's devastating overnight felling at its famous Hadrian's Wall location, a rallying cry for people to back the Woodland Trust's Living Legends campaign – demanding legal protection for the UK's oldest and most special trees – has been issued.

More than 95,000 people have already pledged their support, and Trust head of campaigning Adam Cormack says passing the 100,000 mark is a "significant milestone" at a time when tree protection laws in England are under review and a new Tree Protection Bill for Northern Ireland will be out for consultation later this year.

The amount of land that is protected for nature in England has fallen to just 2.93%, despite government promises to conserve 30% of it by 2030, new data reveals.

Campaigners are calling for a “rapid rescue package for UK nature”, as government delegates head to Cop16, the international nature summit, which will take place from 21 October in Colombia. They intend to ask other countries to stick to ambitious nature targets.

The commitment to protect 30% of land for nature by 2030 was made in 2020 by the then prime minister, Boris Johnson. But according to a report by Wildlife and Countryside Link, the amount of land in England that can be said to be effectively protected for nature has fallen to just 2.93%, while the amount of sea protected is at 9.92%.

The beach walkers and their playful dogs running in arcs on the rippled sand seemed blind to the casual alien in their midst. Anchored above the tideline, it wobbled slightly in the breeze, spiny green pods raised like medieval weapons.

“Casual aliens” are non-native species that occasionally escape from cultivation, grow for a while and then die off without establishing a population. Botanical jargon aside, the term’s otherworldly weirdness particularly suited this plant. Its thick, branching stems, jagged leaves and menacing seed cases reminded me of the man-eating specimen in Little Shop of Horrors. Though not carnivorous like the one in the musical, it could still kill.

Thornapple (Datura stramonium) is one of the most poisonous plants in Britain. It contains three potent alkaloid toxins that block the body’s neurotransmitters, causing intense nausea, delirium, coma and death. Originating in Central America but now widespread round the world, it’s part of the Solanaceae family, which includes potatoes, tomatoes and deadly nightshade. It’s relatively common in North America, where it’s known as jimsonweed...

Those looking out across the moor in West Yorkshire these days will see clough valleys studded with pale green tree tubes, each housing two-year-old saplings – a whopping 65,000 new trees that have been planted this year.

In 20 years, it is expected these trees will have grown into montane woodlands full of oak, birch, hazel, rowan and holly, creating wildlife-friendly corridors through the cloughs across the moor, boosting biodiversity and helping to mitigate the effects of climate change.

They represent the first stage in Landscapes for Water, a joint project for the National Trust and Yorkshire Water – the region’s two biggest landowners - that will plant an estimated 300,000 trees over 5,500 hectares of the South Pennines in the next four years.

A POD of dolphins were photographed playfully swimming off the Dorset coast.

Don Williams, a Dorset Camera Club member, was sailing along the Dorset coast with City Cruises Poole, when he came across the photogenic creatures.

He was driving the Solent Scene towards Swanage Pier as the dolphins glided alongside the vessel.

The dolphins are believed to be bottlenose dolphins.

The Great Western Community Forest (GWCF) is celebrating its 30th year after it was originally founded in 1994.

GWCF covers an area of 39,000 hectares (more than 168 square miles) stretching from the North Wessex Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty to the River Thames.

Community forests are spread across a mix of community woodland, private woodland, on-street, urban woodland, wooded habitat corridors and hedgerows.

The aim of the forest is to connect communities to green spaces, promote biodiversity, improve flood defences and reach 30% tree cover across the GWCF area.

People are being urged to record hedgehog sightings to help save them.

The Wildlife Trust for Lancashire, Manchester, and North Merseyside is asking people to record hedgehog sightings to "Help a Hog" this autumn.

Hedgehog populations have been declining in the UK, but gardens could provide a refuge.

Our wetlands are wonderous places – so precious for our wildlife and spellbinding for our senses at any time of year. Each one is different – a floodplain, a remnant of a huge marsh or fen, a wild oasis reclaimed for nature from industry – but each of these delicate ecosystems needs protection and careful management to support the abundant life that depends on it.

Wetlands are designed to soak up and hold water, releasing it much more slowly than a flowing river or stream would. This means they are important flood defences which can absorb excess rainwater and surface water during periods of wet weather, storing it and letting it trickle out slowly to prevent flash flooding.

Our wetlands are also vital for our wildlife: 40% of the world's species rely on wetlands in some way. Yorkshire’s wetlands are both ancient and new; some are historic remnants of a wilder landscape, now surrounded by urban sprawl, whilst others are reclaimed from industry, representing a new start for nature and wildlife.

Wiltshire Wildlife Trust has issued an urgent appeal to help save critically endangered rare bats inhabiting Green Lane Wood Nature Reserve in Trowbridge.

The trust needs to raise £2,000 to unlock a £20,000 grant to help save a breeding roost of rare Bechstein’s bats in the wood.

The Bechstein's bat is one of the UK’s rarest bats, found in parts of southern England and south east Wales.

It is found almost exclusively in woodland habitats. The destruction of ancient mature forests, along with intensive woodland management practices, has led to a decline in its numbers.

Almost £130,000 could be spent by an Essex council on creating wildflower grass verges.

The plan is set to be agreed by Rochford District Council on Thursday, following a trial at the Turret House open space between Hockley and Rayleigh.

Councillors said it would result in highway verges looking better and being more eco-friendly for plants and wildlife.

A two-year project across three counties has uncovered more than 1,300 hectares (3,271 acres) of previously unknown ancient woodland.

These are woods that have persisted since 1600, packed with a range of forest-loving plant life, fungi, insects and micro-organisations, making up some 2.5% of UK land (609,990 hectares or 1,507,318 acres), external.

The project was run by the Wildlife Trust for Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire. The total area of ancient woodland in the area is now known to be 12,552 hectares (31,016 acres).

Bugs Matter, led by conservation charities Kent Wildlife Trust and Buglife, is one of the UK’s few long-term citizen science surveys of flying insect abundance, generating critically important data.

This year saw greater participation than ever before, with a total of 8,850 journeys made, covering over 250,000 miles. Lots more people joined in the survey too – 188 new participants joined the effort to provide crucial data on flying insect numbers.

Citizen scientists in England recorded the greatest number of journeys (7,501 journeys), followed by those in Scotland (737 journeys), Wales (367journeys) and Northern Ireland (220 journeys).

Work to release 15 pine martens into woods across Dartmoor has been completed, the Devon Wildlife Trust (DWT) says.

The mammals, which are related to weasels and otters, were brought down from Scotland.

They were kept in soft-release pens for three days to get them used to their surroundings before being allowed to run wild, staff said.