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.

The soggy but momentous occasion marks the first time in English history that beavers have been legally released into a river system, almost one year after the government finally agreed to grant licences for releases.

“It’s a beaver blind date,” said Cheryl Marriott, the director of nature and people for the Cornwall Wildlife Trust, as another made its way into the water.

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

Organisations and volunteers including Surrey Wildlife Trust and the Surrey Nature Partnership said they had recorded 460 grassland sites in the county, covering about 15 sq miles (39 sq km).

Sites in the Surrey Important Grasslands Inventory include downs, village greens, parks and churchyards.

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.

Researchers recorded increases in several wading bird species, marine mammals and restored natural habitats, including intertidal areas that act as nurseries for many fish. The river continues to support a surprising range of wildlife, with seahorses, eels, seals and even sharks – including tope, starry smoothhound and spurdog – now documented in the Thames.

However, the number of fish species found in the tidal stretch of the river has shown a slight decline since the early 1990s. Conservation scientists say more research is needed to understand the reasons behind the trend.

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

It was seen resting on rocks near Elie and was reported to the British Divers Marine Life Rescue (BDMLR).

The walrus was spotted on 31 January but the marine wildlife charity decided not to make the sighting public to protect the animal.

"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.

As a volunteer in Formby's woodlands on Merseyside, he is part of efforts to stop the decline of the endangered native creature following the introduction of grey squirrels from North America in the late 19th Century.

While England is thought to have about 2.7 million greys, there are only about an estimated 39,000 red squirrels left.

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.

But Jon Barrett, a community engagement officer for the Quantock Hills national landscape, had a broad grin on his face as he negotiated the ooze.

“I know for some, mud may be their nemesis at this time of year but we’re trying to celebrate it, get people to embrace it,” Barrett said.

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.

The TV wildlife presenter followed the Blackmore & Sparkford Vale Hunt with a camera crew through the Dorset countryside this afternoon (Saturday, February 7).

In a five-hour live stream on Facebook, Chris and his team traced the large group of hounds and horses using thermal tracking, at one point locating "15 hounds all focused on one little area in a wood".

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

North Lincolnshire Council's cabinet agreed to support participation in the proposed Humberhead Unesco Biosphere at a meeting on Monday 2 February.

If approved, officials said the move would protect the area's unique landscape, improve flood resilience, restore nature and support farming and local livelihoods.

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.

Chichester Cathedral said the birds nest on its spire and that it would be live streaming its nest from Monday.

The cathedral in West Sussex is also hosting peregrine open days on its green where people can use telescopes and cameras to see the birds every Wednesday to Sunday, between 6 June and 5 July.

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

Sphagnum moss can hold 20 times its weight in water and helps create peat bogs, where dead vegetation accumulates rather than decays, capturing carbon in the ground.

Two projects – one in the Yorkshire Dales and another on Marsden Moor near Huddersfield – are reintroducing mosses to the uplands, which it is hoped will also create diverse habitats for wildlife.

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.

The application site comprises Orsett Quarry plus two new extraction areas - one to the north of Walton’s Hall Road and the other to the south.

The proposals cover an area of land totalling 224 acres at Orsett Quarry, plus 136 acres hectares at Walton Hall Farm located to the east of Linford.

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.

One site would involve creating a bigger local nature reserve (LNR) along the route of the canal in Newport, combining several existing protected sites.

Another would see the creation of a 26.7 hectare LNR to cover the Hurleybrook area of Hadley and Leegomery, council papers state.

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.

Spurn, a 3.5 mile (6km) spit comprising sand, mud and marram grass in East Yorkshire, curves between the North Sea and the Humber Estuary.

The 2013 surge - cited by the Environment Agency as the worst since the floods of 1953 - washed away the only road, while swathes of sand dunes and wildlife habitats were lost.

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.

“I feel very lucky to have them on the farm. It’s an important thing to try and keep a healthy population of them. They are absolutely beautiful,” he said.

Most of us are much more familiar with their sturdy, grey American cousins. But once there were 3.4 million red squirrels in the UK, and with their glossy auburn fur, delicate frames and big tufty ears, they are the endangered animal whose loss Britons perhaps feel most deeply.

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".

His target in the 15th Century attraction near Sleaford is the great crested newt.

A very large breeding population can be found in the moat and surrounding land.

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

Natural England said it has issued two further licences to release the semi-aquatic animals, which engineer the landscape with dams, ponds and channels that boost other wildlife and help counter flooding and drought.

One of the releases is happening at the National Trust’s Holnicote Estate in Exmoor while Cornwall Wildlife Trust is carrying out a release at a location in the middle of the county.

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.

GrubsUp! is extending its work into Bransdale and Farndale, thanks to new funding secured through the National Parks Partnerships, supported by global hospitality partner Levy. The project builds on work already happening along the southern edge of the National Park, strengthening wildlife corridors that link important habitats such as woodland, species-rich grassland, ponds and hedgerows.

These corridors, known as Biodiversity Lines or ‘B-Lines’, are important as they act as safe routes for insects such as bees, butterflies and moths to travel between sites for feeding, breeding and sheltering. Unfortunately, many valuable habitats have become increasingly isolated over time, leaving pollinators with limited resources and struggling to grow their populations.

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

The National Park Authority has signed a legal agreement with Halnaker Hill Farm, near Chichester, that will allow developers, businesses and individuals to invest in nature recovery.

Around 330 acres of land is being restored to its natural condition centuries ago, with a rich mosaic of wildlife habitats including hedgerows, grassland, ponds, woodland and wildflower meadows.

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

The Toad Patrol will help hundreds of migrating toads cross a road in Lincolnshire, to save them from being squashed by passing vehicles.

Emma Hallewell, 52, said she set up the group after she found 700 of the amphibians squashed on Five Gates Lane in Belton, near Grantham, last year.

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

The City of London Corporation said that 374 of the dams - which involve placing branches and twigs across small waterways - would be built over the next year.

The corporation, which manages the forest, claims it is the biggest natural flood management project of its kind in the south east.

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.

The encounter occurred recently during an organised boat trip in Poole Harbour for children, which was being hosted by charity, Birds of Poole Harbour, as part of their ‘Young Birders’ club.

The young eagle known as ‘G834’ is the first white-tailed eagle to fledge from a wild nest in Dorset since the 1700’s and is a direct result of the popular reintroduction program that’s currently being carried out from the Isle of Wight by Forestry England and the Roy Dennis Wildlife Foundation.

More than 110,000 trees will be planted to create 185 hectares of new woodland and pasture.

The planting project, near Bridgnorth in Shropshire, would be one of the biggest in the Midlands, the National Trust said.

The trees are being planted on its Dudmaston Estate, financed by the government's Trees for Climate programme.

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.

The RFS is encouraged by the Government’s support for lethal control and silvicultural measures, and its strong backing for innovation in fertility control research and clearer public messaging on the importance of grey squirrel management to the public.

The RFS is pleased to see the government address these issues, which remain high on our agenda. The Society has always supported control measures and we will continue to represent the voices of woodland owners and managers. We will keep advocating for effective grey squirrel management wherever they are present to protect the resilience and future of our treescapes.

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.

The pillboxes were originally built in 1940 as part of an anti-tank stop line to protect the flat beaches from potential invasion and to defend the nearby airbase. Now, 85 years later, they are being transformed to help safeguard wildlife.

Species on the Edge Trainee Luke Butler has been leading the conversion work, covering the pillbox roofs with shingle substrate and installing mesh fencing on wooden frames to protect against predators. The design mimics the natural gravel and shingle sites where Common Terns typically build their simple nests.

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

Seagrass is one of the most powerful natural tools for tackling climate change and can protect coastlines from storms and erosion, according to Wilder Humber – a partnership of the Yorkshire and Lincolnshire wildlife trusts.

It once covered about 1,100 acres (445 hectares) of the estuary, but declined dramatically during the 20th Century due to pollution, disease and the loss of natural coastal space.