Local communities, water quality and wildlife will benefit from a record £8.5 million paid by water companies into environmental restoration projects as part of a strengthened crackdown on pollution and poor performance across the sector.

This compares to £5.8 million the year before, a 47% increase, and just under £2 million in the 2023/24 financial year.

The Environment Agency ensures this record funding goes directly to charities and projects that restore the harm done to waterways and improve water quality, working to leave them in a better position than before any incident.

UK populations of puffins have fallen by 25% since 2000 despite continued attempts to protect them, the RSPB said.

World Puffin Day, on 14 April, coincides with the time of year when puffins and other seabirds return to Bempton Cliffs in East Yorkshire, home to the UK's largest mainland seabird colony.

Dave O'Hara, reserve manager at Bempton Cliffs, said the main issue was the availability of sandeels in the North Sea.

Work has begun to clear up a “disgraceful” mountain of illegal waste at a site near the River Cherwell in Oxfordshire, officials have said.

The 150-metre long trail of rubbish in a field alongside the A34 in Kidlington prompted widespread outrage, a criminal investigation and was declared a critical incident by the Environment Agency last November.

Now 15 to 30 lorry loads of rubbish will be removed each day in a £7.3 million operation expected to last around six months.

The blue tit was the most common bird spotted in Surrey - bucking a national trend in a new survey which saw the house sparrow as the most frequently recorded bird across the country.

The study from the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) found the house sparrow, blue tit and starling were the the top three birds seen across the UK, while the wood pigeon and house sparrow were number two and three in Surrey.

The RSPB's Big Garden Birdwatch annual study was released alongside a plea from the charity not to feed birds during the summer months, as it could spread disease.

On Wednesday 15th April a group of MPs will gather in Parliament, following a Lords debate about the impact of bottom-trawling on marine wildlife, to support calls on the UK Government to expand and accelerate policies for nature recovery.

The event comes after months of growing public and political disquiet about the severe and continuing degradation of the UK's nature. It will be hosted by Chris Hinchliff MP and will see The Wildlife Trusts, RSPB, Woodland Trust and Friends of the Earth speakers set out evidence of ongoing species and habitat declines and the escalating impacts on people. UK Government will be urged to reset environmental policy to address the crisis.

Amphibian and reptile conservation is asking residents of the Scottish Solway coast to listen out for the iconic call of Scotland’s rarest amphibian, the natterjack toad.

The natterjack toad (Epidalea calamita) can only be found at a handful of locations in Scotland, all on the Solway coast.

Natterjack numbers have declined dramatically in recent years, largely due to habitat loss caused by sea level rise, coastal erosion, agricultural intensification, urban expansion and commercial forestry. Natterjack breeding habitat – shallow, seasonal pools found near the coast - is especially susceptible to extreme weather events such as prolonged periods of drought or severe winter storms, which are becoming more frequent due to climate change.

A funding deal to raise £100m from private investors for urgently needed nature restoration in Scotland has fallen through without the Scottish parliament being told.

The Guardian has learned that Aberdeen, the investment firm, decided to withdraw from a partnership with the agency NatureScot to raise at least £100m for conservation projects from commercial and private investors late last year.

Scottish government ministers did not disclose that when the Highlands Labour MSP Rhoda Grant tabled a question at Holyrood asking for an update on what was known as the nature investment partnership.

Conservationists say pine martens are "doing well" after being being reintroduced to parts of south-west England.

Dozens of the mammals, which are related to weasels, have been released into secret locations across Dartmoor and Exmoor since autumn 2024 as part of the Devon Wildlife Trust Two Moors Pine Marten project.

In July, it was confirmed the animals - which had disappeared from the region more than 100 years ago after being hunted and trapped to extinction - had successfully bred.

They are seen as "a little bit unusual" and "unknown" to many due to their slimy disposition, but eels are having something of a rebrand in Britain's waterways.

Their numbers dwindled by 94% in the 1980s due to pollution, parasites and several other barriers faced on the riverways.

But they are now being reintroduced across the country in a bid to boost numbers and restore balance to ecosystems.

Up to 50 wild beavers could be released into Dorset rivers under plans announced by a nature conservation charity.

Dorset Wildlife Trust has submitted an expression of interest to Natural England for the proposed project in the River Hooke and wider River Frome catchment.

The trust said a phased approach was preferable, with the semi-aquatic mammals released at about 10 suitable sites over several years.

A new project will "transform" degraded coastal environments through the installation of "pioneering" floating wetlands.

The project, led by the University of Portsmouth in partnership with Southern Water, external, will see specially designed floating rafts deployed in coastal waters.

Their purpose will be to recreate crucial lost "green" habitats in areas dominated by concrete infrastructure, such as seawalls and flood defences.

When Jane and Hugh Kemp started planting Christmas trees in their woodland in the Yorkshire Dales in the 1960s, they had no idea what would take up residence in the conifers 25 years later.

At first, they were in disbelief. But the newcomers' striking orange-red colour and bushy tails were unmistakable.

Red squirrels had moved into Mirk Pot Woods, near Snaizeholme, and they remain there today on a reserve where they can live wild while the land is managed to protect them.

People in South Yorkshire are being encouraged to create their own home-made ponds in a bid to raise awareness about the importance of looking after rivers and wetlands.

Launching the campaign, Sheffield & Rotherham Wildlife Trust warned that local waterways were in "poor ecological and chemical health", meaning river catchments and neighbouring aquatic habitats had lower biodiversity than they should.

However, "mini ponds" created in as little as an hour could help boost biodiversity, a charity spokesperson said.

“The world is grown so bad that wrens make prey where eagles dare not perch.” So wrote Shakespeare in Richard III, in a line of social commentary that feels ever more relevant with age.

A note of good news then, in a world of so much bad, that the eagles the Bard was probably referring to could finally be reintroduced to England after more than 150 years.

The golden eagle, which was common in Shakespearean England – and which he mentioned more than 40 times, according to some scholars – has been largely absent from the country’s skies, with only a handful of pairs seen in the past 150 years.

Should the apocalypse arrive, Wales as we know it may depend on conservationists Ellyn Baker and Kevin McGinn and their cotton bags full of seeds.

The duo are in charge of carefully collecting and storing native wild seeds to create a living genetic library that could restore the country's ecosystem after a disaster.

Ellyn, 25, and Kevin, 38, meticulously plan their summer so they can be in the right place at the right time when plants release their seed - a window of just days in some cases - that, if missed, can take several years to happen again.

Scotland’s publicly-funded forestry bodies have spent more than £134m controlling deer over the last decade, The Ferret can reveal.

The country’s’s deer population is estimated to have reached more than one million, having doubled since the 1990s. In high concentrations, deer can cause numerous issues.

They include the deaths of an estimated 700 people in vehicle collisions in the UK every year, the environmental harm caused by trampling and overgrazing, poor animal welfare due to insufficient food and shelter for deer in winter, and steep economic costs.

While many of us enjoy watching birds at a feeder, the latest conservation advice suggests that the most sustainable way to support our feathered friends is to provide for them naturally.

As of 10 April, the RSPB is urging gardeners to change how they feed birds and to pause offering seeds and peanuts entirely during the summer months (1 May to 31 October). This new guidance is designed to combat the spread of avian diseases, particularly trichomonosis – a parasite that is currently decimating British finch populations. During these warmer months, the parasite survives longer and spreads more easily as birds congregate at feeders, turning busy feeding stations into disease hotspots.

It looks like there will be more drama at Glaslyn again this season, with the ospreys returning to the nest but seemingly going their separate ways...

Glaslyn duo Aran and Elen have returned from their winter migration but they have not been reunited on their nest in the Glaslyn Valley.

Aran returned on Saturday, 4 April, two weeks after the arrival of his partner Elen, whose fourth year it is in the Glaslyn Valley. They have raised five chicks together since 2023.

Woodland Trust Scotland advocates for the protection of Scotland’s precious native trees and ancient woodlands. But what are we actually protecting them from? And what can the next Scottish Parliament do to make that protection stronger?

Scotland’s native woods and trees are irreplaceable natural assets. They support biodiversity, store carbon, improve air and water quality, enhance urban communities and provide shade and shelter on our streets and on agricultural land. They are woven into Scotland’s national story in history and in literature. To an extent, we take the presence of our trees and woods for granted. But we shouldn’t, because they’re under significant threat from many angles, and they need our protection.

Take deer. Red and roe deer are native to Scotland, but their current numbers are anything but natural. The Scottish Government estimates there are a million deer in Scotland, with no natural predators left. That puts extraordinary pressure on our native woods and trees, as unmanaged deer and deer management objectives which don’t prioritise nature recovery often prevent woods from regenerating or expanding naturally, making woodland creation expensive by requiring costly fences and ongoing management.

The amount of glyphosate being applied to UK crop has risen by 1,000% since 1990, new data analysis from PAN UK has revealed.

Analysis of government data by the organisation revealed the amount of the herbicide being applied to UK crops rose from 200 metric tonnes in 1990 to more than 2,200 metric tonnes in 2024.

Major increases were particularly seen on crops like potatoes, which rose from 1.5 tonnes to 66 tonnes per year.

Keys facts: According to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, about a third of the global seaborne trade in fertilisers pass through the Strait of Hormuz(1). Essential components of fertiliser like urea and ammonia are made with energy-intensive production processes including gas. This means that, for efficiency, production tends to be clustered near low-cost gas producers, particularly around the Persian Gulf in countries like Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain the UAE and Iran. This density meant that a single Iranian strike on a Qatari facility has been reported as disrupting 1/7th of global urea production. Volatility in supply is likely to continue(2).

Fertiliser costs are surging for the second time in just 5 years after similar trade disruptions following the invasion of Ukraine caused fertiliser prices to spike to $815 per tonne in April 2022. This is more than four times the price of just over $200 per tonne in 2020(3). Arguably the situation is worse this time round as there is less spare production capacity elsewhere to fill the gap.

UK farmers – as well as those elsewhere – are rightly highlighting the risks of higher farm input costs, especially of red diesel and fertiliser, because of the Iran conflict. They are also simultaneously facing increasingly unpredictable and extreme weather events due to accelerating climate change. The deluges that put productive fields underwater in 2023/24 led to millions of pounds of government intervention to protect farmers with flooded fields.

The government has unveiled the first five species set to benefit from the largest ever amount of government funding for threatened species.

The turtle dove, diamond-backed spider, Eurasian oystercatcher, red-billed chough and glutinous snail are among the hundreds of species set to benefit from new funding for recovery projects across England.

The government will invest £60m over the next three years – more than double the previous round of funding – into the Species Recovery Programme, which is administered by Natural England. A further £30m will be dedicated to fund species recovery on the national forest estate.

One of the UK’s rarest coastal plants is being brought back from the brink thanks to a major conservation partnership working to restore its fragile habitat in North Wales.

Fewer than 5,000 Shore Dock plants remain in the wild worldwide. Now, conservationists are working to secure its future at Newborough, Anglesey – one of its most important sites – by restoring the conditions it needs to survive and reintroducing hundreds of carefully cultivated plants.

Last week, more than 500 Shore Dock plants were returned to the site in the first in a series of planned re-planting cycles.

‘Should it all just be renationalised?’ – your water crisis questions answered

Sandra Laville has been reporting on England’s sewage crisis for years. She answered your questions on the water privatisation scandal. Hosted by Guardian Moderators Wed 8 Apr 2026 15.57 CEST 221 Prefer the Guardian on Google

Guardian environment correspondent Sandra Laville’s reporting on the sewage crisis in English water has helped to expose a scandal of privatisation that has created a swell of fury across the political divide.

Sandra has now finished answering your questions. Read the Q&A below.

Garden birds should not be fed seeds and nuts over the summer months, the RSPB has said, in an attempt to reduce the spread of avian diseases.

Bird lovers are being urged to take down their bird feeders between May and October to help birds such as the greenfinch, whose numbers have plummeted after the spread of trichomonosis, a parasitic disease transmitted more easily when birds cluster around feeders in the warmer months.

In new guidance, the RSPB is advising people to “feed safely and feed seasonally” by removing all bird feeders filled with seeds and peanuts and instead offering small amounts of protein such as mealworms, fat balls or suet from 1 May to 31 October, since they tend not to attract clusters of finches and protein is useful for the birds to feed their chicks.