cross-posted from: https://slrpnk.net/post/35828327

Sewage released into England’s rivers and seas nearly 300,000 times last year

Campaigners criticise frequent use of storm overflows when parts of the country were in drought for months Sandra Laville Thu 26 Mar 2026 12.49 CET Prefer the Guardian on Google

Raw sewage was discharged into rivers and seas almost 300,000 times last year after the driest spring for more than 100 years and the sunniest and warmest year on record in England.

Water companies released raw sewage into rivers and seas from storm overflows – designed to be used in extreme wet weather conditions – 291,492 times. This was a 35% reduction on record spills in 2024. Average discharges were 20.5 spills for each overflow, compared with 31.8 in the previous year.

The duration of raw sewage discharges into waterways fell by more than half, to 1.8m hours, from a high of almost 4m hours in 2024. Some water companies had reductions of more than 60% and 70% compared with the previous year, according to figures released on Thursday by the Environment Agency (EA).

They were released this time last year with fanfare, much hope and also, perhaps, a little trepidation.

Twelve months on, there have been ups and downs for the first beavers to be (officially) reintroduced into the wild in England since the semiaquatic mammals were hunted to extinction 400 years ago.

Providing an end-of-year report, the National Trust, which is in charge of the project, said it was thrilled the beavers had been reshaping their new home in Dorset, where they have felled trees to construct a 35-metre dam, slowing the flow of a stream and creating a deep, wildlife-rich pool.

A proposed end to trail hunting in England and Wales came a step closer on Thursday as the government launched a public consultation on a ban.

Trail hunting was introduced after the Hunting Act 2004 as an alternative to hounds chasing foxes and involves using an animal-scented rag. Labour first announced a planned ban in its 2024 election manifesto.

Animal welfare campaigners, including the RSPCA, say live animal scents are often picked up by packs instead and that trail hunting is being used as a "smokescreen" to hide the deliberate hunting of foxes by some hunt groups.

Visitors to England’s National Nature Reserves (NNRs) now have even more reason to explore, after a remarkable discovery.

A fungus never recorded before in the UK, has been found at the 150-hectare Kingley Vale National Nature Reserve in West Sussex. It comes almost 20 years after a similar discovery in Spain.

Blue-Based Earthtongue, also known as Microglossum cyanobasis, was spotted by a member of the public in the reserve’s ancient yew woodland.

Citizen Science Month launch marks start of biggest ever survey season – now including France for the first time!

The UK’s popular insect citizen science survey is back – bigger, earlier and bolder than ever. Bugs Matter the bug-splat-counting survey, organised by Buglife and Kent Wildlife Trust, launches on Wednesday 1 April and runs through to Wednesday 30 September. That’s a full month earlier than previous years, timed to coincide with Citizen Science Month and to capture precious early-season data.

In 2026 Bugs Matter continues its international journey. For the first time, the survey expands into France – joining the UK and the Republic of Ireland in what is becoming a cross-continental effort to understand the health of our flying insect populations. Because, as nature knows and we’re learning, biodiversity knows no borders.

Amid the U-turns and Keir Starmer’s personal approval ratings, it’s easy to forget that Labour was elected in 2024 on a platform of optimism. Less than two years on, manifesto promises to “stop the chaos” and “grow our economy” are proving difficult to fulfill.

Yet, there remains one area where the government appears to be performing well.

The UK’s target to reach net zero by 2050 is “within reach, provided the government stays the course”, according to a 2025 progress report from the Climate Change Committee, which is the public body whose role it is to advise the government on its progress in meeting its legally-binding climate targets. This is not only being driven by the power sector - with wind energy soaring and the UK’s last coal-fired power station closing in 2024 – but also through heat pumps and electric vehicles decarbonising heating and transport: areas considered much more fiddly to go green.

A charity has launched its "largest and most ambitious" nature recovery project after receiving multi-million pound backing.

Cornwall Wildlife Trust said its Tor to Shore scheme aimed to link habitats across the county and reintroduce animals to areas, including bringing more beavers to the Helman Tor nature reserve near Bodmin.

Funding for the £5m initiative has been boosted with a £3.3m grant from The National Lottery Heritage Fund.

An action plan has been launched to help revive a rare and valued wildlife habitat.

A recently published Natural England report identified habitat pressures at the Adur Estuary, a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) that supports threatened coastal saltmarsh and mudflats.

In the wake of the report, conservation volunteer group Friends of Adur SSSI are leading the implementation of a new action plan to help recovery efforts.

Protecting Peregrine Falcons, creating Marine Protected Areas and championing nature at global conventions are just some of the critical projects delivered by JNCC and highlighted in our Impact Review, published today.

Covering the period 2024 to 2025, the review sets out how JNCC delivers on its strategy, Together for Nature, and highlights a year of significant progress in turning science into action for nature, people and the planet.

One of the year's standout achievements was JNCC's role at the latest Convention on Biological Diversity Conference of the Parties (COP16), where we supported UK negotiations on the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. JNCC led negotiations on invasive alien species and sustainable wildlife management, and co-led the development of the Monitoring Framework, which will track global progress towards nature recovery goals.

A conservationist believes butterflies could act as a new "canary in the coal mine" for climate change, as she undertakes a two-year study in the wetlands of Wales.

Georgina Paul, of Butterfly Conservation, is now halfway through the project, which is investigating whether the endangered large heath butterfly can be used as an indicator of peatland health.

Peat bogs play a crucial role in storing carbon when they remain wet, but rising temperatures can dry them out, releasing greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.

A pine marten has been caught on camera in Cornwall in what conservationists hope could be the start of a comeback in the county.

Kernow Conservation recorded the creature during routine monitoring on the Trewithen Estate, near Truro, where staff have been working to restore native wildlife.

The footage was captured on a camera which was set up to track reintroduced water voles.

The Environment Agency is too weak to tackle an “out-of-control plague” of waste dumping, a powerful group of MPs has said.

The public accounts committee (PAC) said the EA had gaps in its powers and intelligence gathering which meant it was not set up to deal effectively with the rise in waste dumping.

“The widespread and increasing issue of illegal waste sites surpasses the EA’s powers,” the committee wrote in a report published on Wednesday.

An eel fisher is to argue at the high court in Belfast that the authorities have allowed the ecological collapse of Lough Neagh by failing to take action over pollution.

Declan Conlon, whose family have for generations fished the inland lake in Northern Ireland that once hosted the largest wild eel fishery in Europe, is seeking to take a judicial review against the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (Daera). He will argue the department has failed to act against polluters despite clear evidence of the ecological collapse of the lake.

Lough Neagh, the UK’s largest lake by surface area, is situated in the heart of Northern Ireland and is a globally important and internationally protected site. But it is suffering from an acute environmental crisis. It is overloaded with phosphorus and nitrogen from agriculture, including farm runoff, fertilisers and animal waste, as well as from inadequate wastewater treatment facilities and septic tank leakage.

A specially designed raft has been launched on the east coast of Scotland to create new homes for vulnerable seabirds.

Dubbed the “Maid of Sterna Stuff III”, the raft is moored within the Scottish Wildlife Trust’s Montrose Basin Wildlife Reserve and will provide nesting habitat for over 100 common terns.

Scotland’s seabirds face numerous threats, including from climate change and overfishing, while in recent years they have suffered further declines as a result of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (bird flu). No terns bred on the reserve’s previous raft in 2021 or 2022, however their numbers have climbed steadily since, and in 2025, around 140 chicks fledged as the species continues its recovery from the devastating disease.

Despite the generic title this video discusses the nature sector from a British perspective

The last remaining colony of puffins on the Dorset coast is in danger being lost altogether, conservationists have warned.

Home to about 40 pairs of puffins around 80 years ago, the colony near Dancing Ledge in Purbeck has dwindled to just three pairs in recent times.

Although these birds have engaged in courtship behaviour, mating, and nest building in each of the last three years, and even feeding chicks in 2023, they have not raised any fledges in recent years.

A family day out at the Helford Estuary turned into an unforgettable wildlife encounter for a man who believes he may have discovered a rare 'golden lobster' while diving for scallops.

Andy Dixon, 41, an experienced freediver who loves searching for lobsters, scallops and “anything else that’s good to eat,” visited the Cornwall estuary on Sunday with his family to enjoy the spring sunshine.

After spending time diving in his usual scallop spot, Andy resurfaced to find his family had wandered further along the estuary. With the water calm and visibility good, he decided to stay in a little longer and explore.

Hunters will be banned from shooting a rare and beautiful duck under new proposals to halt the decline of six British wild birds.

The new rules would restrict the shooting of species including the distinctive woodcock, and the striking pintail, goldeneye and pochard ducks, all of which are classed as under threat and have seen their populations fall sharply in recent years.

Once a familiar sight on lakes and reservoirs during winter, the pochard, a diving duck, is declining rapidly but the proposals would see a total ban on shooting the threatened species.

A wildlife photographer has scooped a prestigious award for his image of a toad taken in a pond near his home.

Paul Hobson, from Sheffield, said "to say I was chuffed is putting it mildly" when he discovered he'd placed first at the British Wildlife Photography Awards 2026.

The striking black and white image, shot from below the surface of the water, shows the amphibian swimming across the woodland pond in the Rivelin Valley.

In a world-first, Rathlin Island, off the coast of County Antrim, has eradicated ferrets.

The non-native predator was introduced to the island in the 1980s and has wreaked havoc on the internationally-significant breeding seabird colony.

More than 400 traps were laid across the island as part of a five-year, £4.5m Life Raft project, which has also targeted rats. But crucial to the fight to save the seabirds was a specially-trained detection dog, called Woody.

Endearing little birds with clown-like features, it is no wonder puffins are so much loved and draw so many people to spot them on the East Yorkshire coast when they visit each year. RSPB Bempton Cliffs is home to the UK’s largest mainland seabird colony and of national and international importance.

The chalk cliffs that tower hundreds of feet over the North Sea recently welcomed back the first puffin of the season, faithfully returning to its nesting site. Around 3,000 of the distinctive birds, with their bright orange legs and multi-coloured bills, will colonise the cliffs up until the summer, with pairs of puffins each raising a single chick, cutely-named a puffling, in their secret burrows.

It is a magical experience to witness and one that Kirsten Carter, the RSPB’s head of marine policy – UK land and sea, highly recommends. Kirsten has some heart-warming facts to share about the puffin, whose comical appearance has earned it the monikers Sea Parrot and Clown of the Sea.

The Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust (GWCT) Cymru has been awarded nearly £1m of government funding for a project aimed at halting the decline in curlew in Wales – a bird set to become extinct as a breeding population by 2033 if current trends continue.

The Gwlad y Gylfinir - Land of the Curlew project will be delivered in Powys, mid-Wales, and follows on from the success of the Curlew Connections Wales project, which comes to an end this month.

The £921,700 grant comes from the Nature Networks Fund, which is providing £15m of funding for 28 projects across Wales, all aimed at restoring and improving biodiversity across land and sea.

A local authority is encouraging residents to book a home visit from its "Green Team" to get top tips for making gardens more wildlife friendly.

The experts from Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council give advice on how to create spaces to attract native species such as hedgehogs and robins.

More than 500 people have had one of the free one-hour home surveys since they were launched two years ago.

Native British wildlife will feature on the next set of £5, £10, £20 and £50 notes, the Bank of England has announced, but it has yet to be decided which creatures will make the cut.

While politicians from Nigel Farage to Ed Davey have sought to confect outrage about ditching Winston Churchill and Jane Austen for badgers or blackbirds, public consultations by the Bank show that people favour the switch to wildlife. Regularly changing images on the notes is a measure to foil counterfeiters.

A panel of experts including wildlife broadcasters and academics will draw up a shortlist which the public will vote on later this summer.