With stumpy, speedy legs, questing snouts and a fierce quiver of needles, hedgehogs are enchantingly strange, like fantasy creatures from a medieval bestiary. “It’s the nation’s favourite wild animal – every time there’s a vote or a poll, the hedgehog wins,” says ecologist Hugh Warwick, AKA “Hedgehog Hugh”, author of the Cull of the Wild and hedgehog champion. Why do they need to be saved?

Hedgehogs are in trouble. Since 2000, the UK has lost between 30% and 75% of its rural hedgehogs. Intensive agriculture practices mean habitat has been lost, while the use of agrochemicals – such as pesticides – has affected populations of insects that hedgehogs eat. They’re vulnerable to cars (which kill an estimated 167,000-335,000 annually), strimmers and climate change. “We think long, warm, wet winters may pull hedgehogs out of hibernation more frequently, which might impact their ability to thrive,” says Warwick. It’s not all bad news: “We’ve seen stabilising and early signs of recovery in urban and suburban areas,” says Grace Johnson, hedgehog officer for the People’s Trust for Endangered Species, but they still need our help.

A herd of English longhorn cows has been allowed to roam free to help restore dune grasslands on Sefton Coast on Merseyside.

The cows moved to pastures new in Formby this winter to act as nature's lawnmowers, grazing on plants which could become dominant or invasive.

The cattle were moved on to the site in November and will remain there until April as part of the trial between the National Trust and the Lancashire Wildlife Trust.

A major 10-year hedgerow restoration programme is under way at a large National Trust farm.

The conservation charity plans to plant or restore about 23km (14 miles) of hedges on its 1,000-hectare (2.5-acre) estate at Wimpole Hall in Cambridgeshire.

The trust said this would create habitat for wildlife as well as support the working farm by creating firebreaks and protecting soil from erosion.

In March 2025, a collision out in the North Sea led to millions of tiny plastic pellets reaching our shores. A mass clear-up began and worried wildlife charities warned of potential devastation for marine life and birds. A year on, what has been the impact of the plastic pollution?

The Northwoods Rewilding Network, co-ordinated by the charity Scotland: The Big Picture, was set up in April 2021 in response to the growing number of landowners keen to contribute to Scotland’s role in reversing global nature loss and tackling climate breakdown.

The chain now includes over a hundred landholdings stretching “from the Solway Firth to Sutherland, and from the East Neuk of Fife to the Ross of Mull”, supporting dozens of jobs and over £4.2 million in local investment since its launch.

They include partners in the Lothians such as Clint Estate south of East Linton and Nature at Spott near Broxburn. Others nearby include Leadburn Community Woodland south of the Pentland Hills, between Penicuik and Eddleston.

More than 1,000 metres of hedgerow will be restored to support vital wildlife.

National Trust rangers and volunteers at Kingston Lacy, near Wimborne, are leading the conservation project with a particular focus on improving habitat for the endangered hazel dormouse.

The species has suffered sharp declines.

NEWS, 12 March 2026, Jersey: Jersey has approved one of the most ambitious marine protection plans in the British Isles, nearly quadrupling the area of its seas protected from damaging fishing practices. Thus, becoming a leader in ocean conservation across the British Isles. The proposed MPA network covers 21.7% of Jersey’s waters and comes into effect on 1 September this year. An additional 1.9% has also been approved to come into effect on January 1, 2030. These areas include vital habitats such as kelp forests, seagrass meadows, biodiverse reefs and fragile maerl beds (one of the rarest and most sensitive habitat types in the region). 

The decision means 21.7% of Jersey’s waters will be protected from mobile gear (dredging and trawling) – far ahead of England, where only 11% of waters are protected.

Maerl beds found in Jersey’s waters can host up to 173 species in a single square metre, making them some of the most biodiverse habitats in Europe. Jersey’s decision to invest in ocean protection comes at a moment when marine life all around the world is under growing pressure from climate change and overfishing. The new protections will come into effect on 1 September 2026, bringing Jersey much closer to achieving its international commitment to protect 30% of its waters by 2030.

"Everyone can definitely make a difference."

On a beautiful spring day, at a nature reserve just six miles from the centre of Coventry, Daisy Cubitt and Megan Purchase have a simple message to deliver.

They are part of GenWild, a Warwickshire Wildlife Trust group looking to persuade people aged 18-30 to interact with nature, conservation and wildlife. Their target is the Gen Z generation and they use the power of social media to promote their work.

Water companies have been in the public eye for the wrong reasons again recently. South West Water was in the dock pleading guilty to supplying water unfit for human consumption, while the regulator fined South East Water £22.5m for repeated supply failures that affected more than 280,000 people over three years.

As the full scale of the sewage pollution scandal has been revealed to the public over the past six years, key figures working for the regulators and the privatised companies have been heavily criticised. Channel 4’s drama Dirty Business has focused attention on individuals at the heart of the scandal.

The Guardian examined what some of the main characters are doing today.

Genes capable of creating antibiotic-resistant superbugs have been detected in the UK’s largest lake, which supplies drinking water to about 40% of Northern Ireland.

Testing of water from Lough Neagh, which has a surface area 26 times bigger than Windermere, found genes resistant to a wide range of antibiotics, including carbapenems – drugs reserved for life-threatening infections when all other treatments have failed.

The discovery comes as deaths linked to antibiotic-resistant infections are rising worldwide. Nearly 400 resistant infections are reported each week in England, with deaths linked to them reaching an estimated 2,379 in 2024, according to UK Health Security Agency data.

Welsh Water is to pay a proposed £44.7m after the industry regulator found “serious and unacceptable” breaches in the supplier’s sewage and network services.

The water authority for England and Wales, Ofwat, said the non-profit Dŵr Cymru, or Welsh Water, failed to properly operate, maintain and upgrade its wastewater network to ensure it could cope with levels of sewage.

Ofwat also found the company also did not have “adequate processes in place or oversight by senior bosses”.

“What you’ve got there from the sun on your face is a massive boost of serotonin!” says Alison Greenwood, founder of Dose of Nature, the charity successfully prescribing time outside as a treatment for mental health.

Greenwood is striding round Pensford Field, a tiny patch of wildness tucked behind houses in south-west London. The bright day is illuminating the early blackthorn blossom, gleaming off the pond where a heron watches tiny froglets and shadows of birch trees on a wood-chip path. “All these trees and plants are giving off phytoncides, and they’re good for your immune system too,” the former NHS psychologist says.

Nearly three-quarters of England’s woods inaccessible to public, study finds

Exclusive: Campaigners call for government to introduce right-to-roam bill that allows people to walk around their local woodlands Helena Horton Environment reporter Fri 13 Mar 2026 06.00 CET Prefer the Guardian on Google

Nearly three-quarters of England’s woods are off-limits to the public, buried government documents show.

The study by Forest Research, which is a government-funded quango, found that 73% of English woodland is publicly inaccessible.

The research also found that more than a third of the trees on the Woodland Trust’s ancient tree inventory are inaccessible to the public.

Natural coastal habitats - such as sand dunes, shingle and saltmarsh - provide millions of pounds worth of flood risk benefits to communities in Wales, according to a new study.

Undertaken by Natural Resources Wales (NRW), marine consultants ABPmer and economic consultant eftec, the Wales-wide study has looked at different types of coastal habitat and examined the role they play in mitigating flood risk.

It looked at the characteristics of the different habitats and their effectiveness in buffering wave energy, reducing wave height and reducing tidal flooding.

An east London borough has declared a Nature Emergency - triggering a community workshop to come up with an action plan to deal with it.

Redbridge Council made the declaration in response to declining nature across the UK and its impact on local wildlife, and is now seeking community input to help shape its first-ever Nature Emergency Action Plan.

The in-person workshop will be held on March 18, 2026 from 6.30pm to 8pm in the Gloucester Room at Redbridge Central Library in Ilford. The workshop will include breakout sessions to engage attendees in shaping the draft plan’s themes and priorities.

Following a landmark land acquisition at Middleton Moor, a significant milestone in the Trust’s vision to reconnect landscapes and create more space for nature at scale, this project marks the next major step in its long-term strategy to restore lost species.

Supported by more than £300,000 from Veolia Environmental Trust through the Landfill Communities Fund, the project represents an exciting opportunity for white stork recovery in the region. Centred at Willington Wetlands, the Trust plans to create a purpose-built white stork enclosure in consultation with Celtic Rewilding, specialists running a captive breeding facility just over the border in Staffordshire.

The enclosure, located within a low-disturbance conservation area and designed to be predator-proof and adaptable for future species recovery projects, will support breeding, chick development, and carefully managed soft releases into the wider landscape.

A female curlew at the centre of a study by the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust (GWCT) has broken the UK longevity record at the age of nearly 34.

The bird was spotted last week, identified through her colour rings and her age confirmed as 33 years and 8 or 9 months.

Mrs Ogdens Curlew Elli BlogInitially ringed as a juvenile on Brownsea Island in September 1992, she would have hatched that summer. In 2022, researchers from GWCT recaptured her in the New Forest, colour ringed her and fitted her with a satellite tag. That summer, with the help of Forestry England rangers who monitored and supported curlew breeding in the area, she successfully fledged one chick at the age of 29.

A greedy beaver's sweet tooth led to him being captured twice by rangers monitoring the animals' health.

National Trust rangers spent two months trying to capture the family of beavers at Wallington, in Northumberland, using tasty fruit and veg to lure them into a humane trap.

But after being caught and found to be in good health, the father of the family was captured again when he returned for more snacks.

British wildlife will replace historical figures on the next series of Bank of England banknotes - and the public will get their say on which animals and birds will appear.

Images of wildlife would be difficult to counterfeit, while also allowing for a celebration of nature across the country, the Bank said.

It spells the end for the, sometimes controversial, choice of historical characters which have appeared on £5, £10, £20 and £50 notes for more than 50 years.

This week The Wildlife Trusts wait to hear whether the Government will weaken some of nature’s strongest protections, including slashing the habitats regulations and rules affecting national parks.

Smuggled under the cover of making it easier to build nuclear power more quickly, the recommendations of the Nuclear Regulatory Review could end up being applied to any infrastructure or housing development proposals. Yesterday, the Chancellor confirmed that the Government's response to the review recommendations would be published this week.

The Wildlife Trusts are seeking legal advice because they believe that the Government is at risk of breaking EU trade commitments if it goes ahead with the Review's recommendations to weaken nature laws.

UK reveals first assessment of progress towards national biodiversity targets today as government publishes its 7th National Report (7NR) to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD).

The report assesses the UK's progress against 23 national biodiversity targets which are aligned with the 23 targets in the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF).

The GBF targets are designed to meet the CBD’s 2030 mission – to take urgent action to halt and reverse biodiversity loss to put nature on a path to recovery for the benefit of people and the planet. The targets are focussed on achieving the GBF’s goals; by 2050, biodiversity is valued, conserved, restored and wisely used, maintaining ecosystem services, sustaining a healthy planet and delivering benefits essential for all people.

Ultrasound repellers could keep hedgehogs off roads, scientists hope

Study shows animals hear very high frequencies, making it possible to design a deterrent to cut deaths Patrick Barkham Wed 11 Mar 2026 07.00 CET Prefer the Guardian on Google

Hedgehogs have been discovered to hear high-frequency ultrasound, raising hopes that they could be deterred from dangerous roads with ultrasound repellers.

Vehicles are estimated to kill up to one in three hedgehogs, a big factor in the much-loved mammal’s drastic decline across Europe over recent decades.

Researchers at the University of Oxford collaborated with colleagues in Denmark to test the auditory brainstem response of 20 hedgehogs rehabilitated in Danish wildlife rescue centres. Small electrodes placed on the animals recorded electrical signals travelling between the inner ear and the brain, while short bursts of sounds were played through a loudspeaker.

The purpose built structure at Testwood Lakes Nature Reserve in Hampshire hopes to secure the long term future of the summer visitor at the site.

More volunteers are being recruited to help rescue a growing number of whales, dolphins and porpoises washing up on UK shores.

The British Divers Marine Life Rescue, which specialises in the rescue and protection of marine wildlife, says extra volunteers are needed to assess, give first aid and refloat stranded animals.

Director of welfare and conservation Dan Jarvis said: "There is a general upward increase in recent years of strandings around the UK, and we're also getting busier - particularly after winter storms."

There’s a touch of old magic about toads, those shapeshifters of myth, superstition and folklore. Charismatic creatures with the pleasing Latin binomial bufo bufo, common toads have astonishing copper- or gold-coloured eyes and rugged, textured skin. “People say they look warty, which I’ve always thought is a bit unfair,” says Dr Silviu Petrovan, a conservationist and toad population researcher.

More prosaically, toads are great for your garden. “We say toads are a gardener’s best friend, because they eat all the pests,” says Jenny Tse-Leon, the head of conservation and impact at the British amphibian charity Froglife. Their spring migration is a dramatic event, during which hundreds of thousands of animals travel back to their ancestral breeding ponds. “Like the wildebeest of the Serengeti,” says Tse-Leon. “They’re just a lot smaller than wildebeest.” The males “piggyback” on potential partners: “You see them riding on the female’s back to get a lift to the pond.”