An ancient oak tree that has stood in the heart of a famous forest for hundreds of years and is linked to the legend of Robin Hood has died, experts believe.

The Major Oak is estimated to have lived in Sherwood Forest in Nottinghamshire for up to 1,200 years, and is considered one of Britain's biggest oak trees.

Conservationists worked to protect the tree, which attracted millions of visitors over its life, but in recent years the natural giant was in decline.

A river campaigner who organised a cleanup of his local waterway is being threatened with prosecution by the Environment Agency for acting illegally.

Paul Powlesland, a lawyer and environmental campaigner, organised a team of volunteers to tackle the removal of litter, weed and silt from a section of the River Roding, after repeatedly asking the agency to act.

The team of volunteers from the River Roding Trust removed 200 bags of rubbish, branches and silt over 10 days from Alders Brook, a tributary of the river that runs through rural Essex and Barking, earlier this year. But the EA has sent Powlesland a letter saying he is being investigated for illegally intervening without a permit.

Harry Ewing is heaping branches and foliage from the forest floor on to a dead hedge, reinforcing the protective circle around his newly planted trees in Hadley Wood, north London. He is in a glade created by a fallen oak that was previously overrun with thick bramble.

“I feel very happy – the trees are growing already. It’s really nice seeing it when it starts,” says Ewing.

The 20-year-old is part of a group of young adults with learning disabilities who are transforming their environment and breaking into green sector jobs. They are working on a section of the London Tree Ring, an ambitious project to create corridors of plant and animal life around the capital.

Kelp forests along the UK coastline are more resilient to disturbance than previously thought, according to a study recently published in the Journal of Ecology.

MBA researchers conducted a six‑year experiment across a 1,000 km stretch of the northeast Atlantic, spanning from northern Scotland to southern England, to test how kelp ecosystems respond to disruption and increasing ocean temperatures.

By experimentally removing kelp from large seabed plots and tracking recovery over time, the team assessed multiple aspects of ecological ‘stability’, including resistance, resilience (rate of recovery), and overall recovery.

Wakefield Council has voted to rescind its climate and biodiversity emergency declaration from May 2019.

The motion to become carbon neutral by 2030 and help the district achieve this goal by 2038 was unanimously backed by councillors seven years ago, but, on Wednesday, new council leader Karl Johnson tabled a motion to axe the declaration.

Setting out his plan the Reform UK councillor said the focus would instead be on energy efficiency and cost of living interventions that "provide practical help to residents".

Seal campaigners say a cheap beach toy is leaving animals to suffer slow and painful deaths as they step up calls for a UK-wide ban.

Sue Sayer, founder of the Seal Research Trust and chair of the Seal Alliance, is taking the Save Our Seals from Flying Rings campaign to Westminster, urging MPs to act.

She said the plastic rings, often sold for £1 to £2, were being bought in their thousands and regularly lost on beaches before drifting into the sea.

Scientists from Bangor University have discovered that microplastics (the tiny fragments shed by wet wipes, plastic packaging and other materials) can pick up viruses and bacteria as they pass through sewage treatment and carry them into rivers and coastal waters.

The research team, as part of the BlueAdapt project, followed microplastics from hospital sewage all the way through treatment works and out to sea. The results found that particles can act as a kind of raft for harmful microbes, shielding them from the environment and helping them to survive.

Last summer, more than 1,200 volunteer birdwatchers across the UK, headed out in search of three incredibly special birds. The trio of species inhabit very specific habitats, and scientists were keen to discover how these birds are faring and whether the places where they live are in good enough shape to support sustainable populations.

The birds in question were Nightjar, Woodlark and Dartford Warbler, and they were the primary targets of the Heathland Bird Survey, which was delivered by the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) and the RSPB, and funded by Natural England and Defra. The last national survey of these species took place almost 20 years ago, and researchers aimed to identify any changes in the birds’ fortunes in the intervening period.

Nightjar: A secretive nocturnal bird, known for its eerie ‘churring’ song, most often heard at dusk. These cryptically camouflaged summer migrants arrive in the UK in spring having spent the winter in and around the Congo Basin. Nightjars experienced significant population declines in the UK during the 1970s and 1980s.

A new study into microplastic pollution in the River Thames has been launched by researchers at the University of East London (UEL) in an attempt to influence environmental policy and water quality.

The project, led by Dr Ria Devereux from the university's sustainability research institute, will gather data from locations stretching from Teddington in south-west London to Southend-on-Sea in Essex.

The samples will be assessed to see how pollution levels are changing and what impact climate pressures may be having on the river system.

A small herd of cows has been introduced to help protect one of Oxfordshire’s rarest and most wildlife-rich habitats.

With the help of volunteers, Freshwater Habitats Trust has been restoring the alkaline fen at Hinksey Heights, west of Oxford, since 2018. Now, the Oxford-based charity is introducing five native Dexter cattle to manage vegetation and give rare wetland wildlife a chance to thrive.

Oxfordshire has an internationally important concentration of alkaline fens, but many have become degraded or lost altogether. Across Oxfordshire, we have now lost 70 hectares of these wetlands – an area the size of 100 football pitches.

From a high point on the hill, the North Yorkshire landscape unrolls below. The moorland above gives way to grassland, trees and then pasture, divided by the region’s traditional dry stone walls.

The view may be idyllic, but it belies the condition of parts of this land, belonging to the sprawling 1,100 hectare (2,500-acre) Broughton Sanctuary estate, near Skipton.

The area, however, is about to undergo a transformation as an ongoing rewilding project gets funding from the investment fund Rebalance Earth.

A conservation charity has said that a golden eagle found fatally injured by gamekeepers in the Borders died as a result of "territorial combat" with another bird.

The incident happened on an estate in the region on 1 April this year.

Restoring Upland Nature (Run) - the new home of the South of Scotland Golden Eagle Project - said gamekeepers had done what they could to care for the eagle, named Percy, and had contacted them immediately.

Volunteers could help to encourage a once-widespread wetland insect by taking part in a project to breed them at home.

Citizen Zoo, which recruits communities to get involved in local rewilding efforts, hopes to restore the bog bush cricket to habitats across East Anglia.

In the East of England, the insect survives in a handful of locations in Norfolk, near Aylsham, Sheringham and Holt.

A nature reserve in Blandford, which has been extended, is helping to boost the local population of the Greater Horseshoe Bat - one of the rarest bats in Britain - to record numbers

Dorset council's Milldown nature reserve has become a wildlife haven and now encompasses 33 hectares after a 13 hectare area of adjoining 'poor quality' arable land was purchased in 2022.

Now, having been replanted and given back to nature, the area of chalk meadow there is a sea of wildflowers, hedgerows, and newly planted trees.

Plans to strengthen protection of a valley that is home to thousands of migrating birds from the impact of development are being considered.

The Upper Nene Valley Gravel Pits Special Protection Area (SPA) spans 1,358 hectares in Northamptonshire and is internationally recognised for its importance to wintering birds, in particular golden plover, lapwing and bittern.

A North Northamptonshire Council meeting discussed new evidence which identified that residential development within 5.9km of the SPA was likely to result in "adverse effects".

A Surrey amateur lepidopterist has shared how his remarkable discovery of a rare butterfly has led to a breakthrough in conservation research.

Gareth Tilley discovered a population of one of the UK's most elusive butterflies, the black hairstreak, which had never before been recorded in the county.

Prior to his discovery, the species was found exclusively in woodlands between Oxford and Peterborough, according to Butterfly Conservation.

Butterfly Conservation has condemned the Government's hypocrisy after it quietly allowed the use of a banned pesticide which is proven to kill butterflies and bees without making any public announcement.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) has given permission to British Sugar plc and NFU Sugar for sugar beet farmers to use neonicotinoid pesticides on crops this summer, despite the fact that their use has been officially banned since 2018.

It even comes after Government minister Mary Creagh wrote to Butterfly Conservation two years ago saying that the Government would 'change existing policies to ban the use of neonicotinoid pesticides that threaten vital pollinators like bees and butterflies'.

A conservation charity is encouraging residents to help restore vital habitats in Surrey to create a "haven" for some of the UK's rarest insects.

Buglife says the Chalk Lines project aims to restore more than 30 hectares (74 acres), roughly the size of 42 football pitches, of chalk grassland in the Surrey Hills.

It involves reconnecting vital patches to create "insect motorways" to assist wildlife to move safely across the countryside, the charity said.

A conservation group has been awarded funding to buy CCTV cameras which will allow volunteers working remotely to help protect England's few remaining red squirrels.

The Upper Coquetdale Red Squirrel Group (UCRSG) is using an £18,000 National Lottery Heritage Fund grant to buy 50 motion-activated devices which will be installed across some of the most remote parts of Northumberland.

The "virtual ranger" project will also involve the recruitment of community volunteers who will monitor the live footage remotely and map red squirrel populations.

From the glen at Alladale Wilderness Reserve, the landscape appears much as it has for generations. Deer move across the slopes, rivers wind through the valley and the vast Highland scenery feels largely unchanged.

Yet across the estate north of Ardgay, signs of long-term change are beginning to take shape. Young woodland is spreading across parts of the hillsides, peatland is recovering from decades of degradation and species are beginning to reappear in areas where they had long disappeared.

For conservationist and custodian Paul Lister - founder of the conservation charity The European Nature Trust (TENT) - who acquired Alladale in 2003, these are early signs of a project measured not in years, but generations.

More than 40 dormice have been released into Leicestershire as part of a project to boost the species' declining numbers.

Last summer, 20 hazel dormice were released at Bradgate Park near Newtown Linford and 46 dormice were found in checks carried out in the autumn, indicating breeding.

The additional 40 animals are being introduced to make the population more robust.

It is a tropical bird typically encountered between west Africa and India, but last week a western reef heron arrived in north Wales in what is believed to be the first ever sighting in the UK.

The heron was first spotted in Foryd Bay at the weekend before flying to nearby Caernarfon harbour where it fed among the boats.

While the sighting has excited birdwatchers nationwide, experts said it also demonstrated how changing climate conditions have altered the bird’s range.

Wildlife presenter Steve Backshall says sharks in waters around Britain are under "enormous threat" after an endangered species washed up on a Jersey beach.

On Sunday 7 June, a Smalltooth sand tiger shark was reported as stranded at Greve d'Azette.

This type of shark has never been found in Jersey before, according to official records.

chool pupils will learn how to plant a wildflower-friendly garden, according to long-awaited plans announced on Thursday for a natural history GCSE in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Campaigners have for more than a decade called for the study of biodiversity loss and global heating to be introduced as a dedicated subject in classrooms across the country, but despite a curriculum being previously drawn up, its launch has faced repeated delays.

The government has published a consultation on the curriculum for the GCSE, with plans for students to study three core areas: habitats and wildlife in the UK; human influence on the natural world; and a study of climate breakdown, biodiversity loss and conservation.

As invasive American Signal Crayfish numbers surge at a Derbyshire site, a bold rescue mission gives the UK’s White-clawed Crayfish a fighting chance – thanks to a new “Ark site” in Staffordshire.

The White-clawed Crayfish (Austropotamobius pallipes) is the UK’s only native crayfish species, and it is under serious threat.

Conservation efforts have intensified at a site in Derbyshire following a dramatic increase in invasive American Signal Crayfish (Pacifastacus leniusculus). The invasive species outcompetes and preys on White-clawed Crayfish, and also carries crayfish plague (Aphanomyces astaci) – a disease lethal to the native “White-claws” that can wipe out entire populations within weeks.