A new trail along the east coast of England should be created, a Tory thinktank has said, because farmland is preventing those who live there from having access to nature.

A report from Onward has found that in most rural areas, people enjoy extensive rights-of-way networks. But across the east of England, there are many areas where people have barely anywhere they are allowed to walk in the countryside. This, the report says, is because of large areas of high-grade farmland in that area, but also because Lincolnshire has the largest backlog for recognition of historical but unrecorded rights of way, with more than 450 outstanding applications.

According to green space metrics created by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and the nature charity Wildlife and Countryside Link, half of local authorities in the worst 10% for access to nature are in eastern England. Almost nine-tenths of local authorities in the east have below-average access to green space.

A pioneering south of Scotland conservation project is setting its sights on re-introducing golden eagles into England and Wales.

For the past six years young birds have been taken from the Highlands and released into rural parts of the Scottish Borders and Dumfries and Galloway.

The population of the birds in the area has soared from a threatened handful in 2018 to currently standing at about 50.

Dr Cat Barlow, project manager with the South of Scotland Golden Eagle Project (SSGEP), said: "We hope our next phase will be to give the eagles a hand to establish themselves in the English uplands."

A charity is trying to raise more than £3m to buy an ancient Lincolnshire woodland.

The Woodland Trust said it had until December to purchase Harrison Woodlands near Louth.

The trust said the 483 acre (195 hectare) forest was recorded in the Domesday Book and was home to a variety of wildlife, including goshawks and the rare, white admiral butterfly.

More than 300 harvest mice have been released at a site in the North York Moors National Park in the hope of re-establishing a local breeding population of this once-common species.

The initiative, led by Hawsker residents Steve Mills and Hilary Koll, has been supported by a grant of £4,200 from the Defra-funded Farming in Protected Landscapes scheme.

The release follows several years of habitat restoration by Steve and Hilary, who have been working with Derek Gow Consultancy – experts in UK small mammals – to ensure the right environment for the mice. The couple purchased the ‘wild and windy’ pasture field around five years ago, and have since planted trees, built ponds and watched as a habitat full of birds, butterflies and bees has slowly developed. It was a chance bit of research, however, which led Hilary down the path of harvest mice reintroduction.

Woodland Trust Scotland has launched a campaign to raise the next generation of lone trees and micro woods on farms and crofts.

Woodland Trust Scotland director Alastair Seaman said:

"As in so many cases where our woods and trees are concerned, some of the big old ones are still going strong, but there are not enough young small ones coming up to replace them.

"It's three fields and lots of wet bits in between".

That is a wildlife trust's description of Betchcott Hill, a bit of land in the Shropshire Hills it has just purchased.

It now needs to raise more than £130,000 by the end of the year to help restore the habitat, home to many species of wildlife. The hope is that it can help boost the numbers of some declining species.

"It’s a wonderful place, it’s a wonderful bit of landscape with some fantastic views, but it’s also got some amazing habitats and some really interesting species," said Tom Freeland, Shropshire Wildlife Trust's head of nature reserves.

A wildlife expert has issued an appeal to Londoners amid a “sharp increase” in seal sightings in the Thames - which she says is likely to become a “new normal” in the capital.

Mary Tester, founding director of Thames Seal Watch, said there has been a sudden surge in seal sightings in the capital as more of the mammals appear to be making their way up the river and “exploring areas of London”.

She said she is anxious to avoid a repeat of the 2021 incident in which a beloved seal pup that had been named Freddie by locals had to be put down after being mauled by a dog on the shore near Hammersmith Bridge.

She has urged Londoners to keep their distance from seals if they them on shore, and to keep their dogs on leads.

Britain’s youngest national park is edging closer towards planting 100,000 trees by its 15th anniversary next year as it begins its “major nature recovery drive” this winter.

Some 20,294 trees will be planted alongside a woodland the size of five football pitches at the South Downs National Park across Sussex and Hampshire over the coming months.

Among the efforts it is hoped to restore “majestic” English elms to the land destroyed by disease by planting 400 new disease-resistant elm trees, which are key to supporting insect and butterfly species, the park said.

Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) and the Bee Friendly Trust have completed more than twenty ‘homes for nature’ at six Great Northern stations in and around north London and Hertfordshire: Bayford, Cuffley, Grange Park, Hadley Wood, New Barnet and New Southgate.

Great Northern aims to contribute to enhancing biodiversity on the railway by making its stations more nature friendly.

It hopes that its work will help to preserve wildlife, including the one in six species in the UK which are in danger of extinction.

The Conservative government slashed the Environment Agency’s funding to tackle sewage pollution and protect the environment before leaving office, i can reveal.

The watchdog’s “environmental protection grant” funds a range of activities, including the enforcement of water companies’ raw sewage discharge permits, monitoring and incident management, as well as green finance, farm inspections, waste reform and chemical regulations.

Figures obtained by i through a Freedom of Information request reveal that the grant decreased from £152m in 2010-11 to £70m in 2018-19.

Two captive-bred Wildcats have died after being released into the Cairngorms NP.

The Saving Wildcats project said one of the females, called Midge, was knocked down on a road. It said the second, named Oats, died of starvation four weeks after her release.

The cats could be tracked by their GPS radio collars and were found by park rangers.

A wildlife trust has launched an urgent appeal to "save the River Derwent" in Derbyshire.

Derbyshire Wildlife Trust's (DWT) Derwent Survival Plan aims to raise £195,000 before winter to restore the river and "create thriving habitats for native species on the brink of extinction".

It said the money would fund projects like planting riverside trees to stabilise riverbanks and provide shade, adding reedbeds to slow water flow, and removing pollutants.

A County Down farmer is celebrating the arrival of four new barn owl chicks after 10 years of conservation work on his land to increase numbers.

There are currently fewer than 30 breeding pairs of barn owls in Northern Ireland.

Ulster Wildlife say this is down to agricultural intensification, habitat loss, a lack of nest sites, and increased use of rat poisons.

David Sandford has provided a home for nearly 20 owlets in the past six years after installing wooden nest boxes on his farm in Strangford.

Campaigners have warned against "brutal" cuts to Wales' environmental watchdog, saying the plans "put nature at risk".

Natural Resources Wales (NRW) is seeking to close 265 posts, and is considering reductions in areas including tackling waste crime, advising on climate change, managing heritage features and running visitor centres.

One trade union claimed the regulator could be left without "enough staff on the ground" to protect the environment.

Hossenfeffer - with a very seasonal shot of maple leaves.

Thanks for all the entries. We'll be picking another at the Winter solstice, so have your winter shots ready then.

A record-breaking ocean rower and MP has backed a Liberal Democrat proposal for a new Clean Water Authority (CWA) in an attempt to clean up the "disgusting" state of the country's waterways.

South Cotswolds MP Roz Savage urged her party to "go further" on its sewage policy at its autumn conference being held in Brighton.

Dr Savage holds two Guinness World Records for becoming the first woman to row across two and then three oceans solo and for the longest ocean row by a solo female.

She said a proposal to replace Ofwat with the new regulatory body could "lead the transformation of water companies into public benefit companies".

"Environmental DNA" is being analysed to help guide ambitious plans for a new wetland wildlife haven in west Norfolk.

Land managers at Albanwise Environment have teamed up with environmental DNA (eDNA) specialists NatureMetrics and law firm Mills & Reeve to transform an area of peatland near Stoke Ferry.

Mike Edwards, director at Albanwise Environment, said the site was identified as the land is prone to flooding and poor drainage, "making it a more difficult area to consistently farm productively,"

An £80,000 wetlands project to reduce flood risk and boost wildlife habitat in West Yorkshire has been completed.

As part of the work at Chellow Dene Wetlands, near Bradford, a leaky dam and meanders have been created to help slow the flow of water and allow fish to move freely.

The dam, made of natural materials, allows more flood water to enter the plain and reduces flows downstream before it gradually makes its way back into the beck.

CONSERVATIONISTS are working to preserve natural saltmarshes and create new habitat for wildlife and provide protection against climate change.

Essex Wildlife Trust has revealed plans for conservation work at Abbotts Hall nature reserve on the Blackwater Estuary near Colchester.

Environmentalists warn action is needed to protect and restore saltmarshes, as part of efforts to store carbon and tackle the climate and nature crisis.

An extremely rare moth discovered during a nature walk at a Dorset farm is a “significant find", according to experts.

Dr Jack Oughton, from Dorset Moth Group, came across two of the moths, known as the Gold-fringed Dot, at Bere Marsh Farm in Shillingstone.

The tiny creatures, which have a wingspan of 6 to 6.8mm, were also inspected by experts who confirmed the finding.

Swindale Beck, a stream in Cumbria, in the heart of the UK's Lake District, meanders through fields, farmland and valleys. However, not long ago, the river took a far more linear course.

A healthy river should be sinuous, free flowing and replete with wildlife. In Britain, however, 97% of rivers are fragmented by artificial barriers like weirs. Now, there is at least one artificial barrier for every 1.5km of stream in the country. And for centuries rivers have been slowly canalised – or artificially straightened – to stop water from flooding and spilling onto farmland and houses.

But removing a river's natural meanders has, in fact, achieved the opposite effect. Instead, it's disrupted the flow of rivers and degraded aquatic habitats, water quality and heightened flood risk. As the poor health of Europe's rivers and streams continues to make news – due to dwindling wildlife, sewage pollution and agricultural runoff – communities are turning towards natural solutions to restore their rivers.

The hobby, a small, elegant falcon, is a frequent summer visitor to the south and east of England and South Wales but less common further north. However, two of our volunteers recently reported what is believed to be the first confirmed sighting of a pair of nesting hobbies here in Cumbria.

Matthew Cookson and David Thexton are regular volunteers at Foulshaw Moss Nature Reserve. The site is no stranger to birds of prey, with a pair of breeding ospreys spending every summer here, and peregrine and marsh harrier are regularly spotted.

This summer, for the first time, they confirmed that a pair of hobbies were nesting here. Matthew takes up the story:

Rock-hugging river jelly lichen (Lathagrium dichotomum) has been found thriving along the River Sprint, marking a significant boost for local water quality. River jelly lichen is a species that won’t compromise on habitat conditions, and they will only live in the cleanest of waters.

The discovery, made by teams from the Environment Agency during a routine ecology survey, is the first ever recorded presence of the jelly-like species in the Kent catchment. This discovery demonstrates how important ecological monitoring is.

In recent years, only one other population of ‘Lathagrium dichotomum’ has been reported along the River Eden, though populations do have a small stronghold in the River Lune and some Lake District still-waters.

Rediscovery of rare bumblebee brings hope to South Kent

A rare species of bumblebee, not seen in South Kent for over a decade has been rediscovered on a small holding following dedicated conservation efforts.

The bumblebee – a Shrill carder – is the UK’s rarest species. The Shrill carder is a priority species for conservation efforts in England and Wales following significant declines since the 1950s.

The bumblebee, which was last recorded in this region in 2012, was discovered by Bumblebee Conservation Trust volunteer Claire Marshall, foraging on wildflower habitat that has carefully been restored over the past three years.

The Bumbles on Blooms project, which ran between February and May this year, invited members of the public to observe bumblebee sightings on flowers in gardens and parks across the UK, and record their findings and photographs. The aim of the project was to find out which plants bumblebees rely on most heavily at a critical time in the year as they establish their colonies.

Over a thousand records from the public included at least 10 species of bumblebees and almost 350 different plants. The top three most sighted bumblebees that were identified to species were Early, Buff-tail and Common Carder.

The results indicate that of all colours, white-petalled flowers received more visits than any other from these vital pollinators. White was closely followed by purple and pink, which was reflected in the fact that the top five reported plants in the project included comfrey, crocuses, chives and heather. All five are popular with gardeners and offer reliable flowering from early to late spring.