The British government must be honest about the scale of the threat posed by climate and nature breakdown, researchers have said, after nine out of 10 people surveyed after watching a briefing on the issue felt more motivated to act.

Last November, in the “first-of-its-kind national emergency briefing”, nine experts gave stark assessments in Central Hall in Westminster of the scale of the changes needed in the UK to adapt to the rapidly changing climate and ecological landscape.

The team behind the event crowdfunded to produce the People’s Emergency Briefing, a film outlining the urgent threats that climate and nature breakdown pose to food security, the economy and public health.

The clearance of a notorious illegal waste "supersite" in Kent has been completed after 15 months at a cost of £15m to the taxpayer.

The dump at Hoads Wood, near Ashford, which is on a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) known for rare plants and wildlife, was targeted by criminals who dumped nearly 40,000 tonnes of waste over six months in 2023.

It was the first supersite in England to have central government money spent on its clear-up, with work at two other sites bringing the total taxpayer's bill to £26m.

New figures show sewage was released into rivers, lakes and the sea around Wales for more than 800,000 hours last year.

The charity Surfers Against Sewage, which has analysed data from Wales' water companies, said there were more than 100,000 sewage discharges in 2025 - or one every five minutes.

The figures are down on the year before when sewage was discharged for more than 970,000 hours.

New polling released today has found strong public support for offshore wind in Scotland – but only alongside strong protections for nature.

The poll found that, while there is strong support for renewable energy, people overwhelmingly expect offshore wind developments to protect wildlife like seabirds.

RSPB Scotland, who commissioned the polling, are calling on the Scottish Government to do a better job of balancing the ambitions for offshore wind expansion with Scotland’s responsibilities as one of the world’s most important places for seabirds.

The challenges facing Oxfordshire's rivers and streams are being discussed at a day-long event.

West Oxfordshire District Council's Waterways Day 2026 is aimed at bringing together experts, organisations and communities involved in all aspects of managing water courses.

A series of talks and drop-in sessions at the Corn Exchange in Witney will cover issues including water pollution, development, flooding, agriculture and nature recovery.

Newcastle's 'Bendy Tree' has been crowned UK Tree of the Year 2026 - the first time a tree in Northern Ireland has won the national title since it was launched in 2014.

The 150-year-old wych elm on the central promenade took more than 30% of the national public vote.

The theme of the Woodland Trust's annual competition was Against All Odds, with trees across the UK shortlisted for being impressive, beautiful and sometimes baffling examples of how nature can survive adversity.

An elusive and rare mammal described as being notoriously "hard to spot" is believed to have been caught on camera in Suffolk for the first time.

The sighting of what wildlife experts believe to be a pine marten - cat-sized animals related to weasels and stoats – came at the Benacre National Nature Reserve.

It was captured on a camera trap installed to monitor predators and disturbance affecting rare beach-nesting birds at the beach, which is south of Lowestoft.

The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) has predicted record sightings of mushrooms and toadstools across the UK this autumn.

The organisation said inquiries sent to its advice team from members of the public who have spotted species of fungi in gardens and green spaces could exceed last year's record.

Early sightings at RHS Wisley in Surrey of large rooting boletes and giant funnel mushrooms suggest that the season could be abundant for many species.

cross-posted from: https://lazysoci.al/post/54917935

The final fieldwork for the last bird atlas was completed back in 2011, and a lot has changed since then. Climate change, habitat loss and other environmental pressures mean life’s getting more challenging for birds and other wildlife. To identify the species and places most in need of conservation and provide them with the protection they need, an updated Atlas is essential to make sure decisions are based on the latest evidence.

Bird Atlas 2027–31 will give us the clearest picture yet of bird populations across Britain, Ireland, the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands. By mapping where birds breed and where they spend the winter, it’ll show us which species are doing well, which are struggling, and how things are changing over time. We need this new atlas so that we can identify the species and sites most in need of conservation action.

Yorkshire Water has admitted a £1.5m scheme to reduce storm overflow discharges into a North Yorkshire river has not performed as expected.

When the investment was announced in 2024 for the River Ure in Ripon, the water company said the scheme would reduce the issue by about 75%.

But it said the number of recorded discharges from its Clock Tower combined sewer overflow (CSO), near the Ripon by-pass bridge, fell from 75 in 2021 to 43 in 2025, a reduction of about 43%.

Drax’s planned datacentre could produce nearly double the emissions of all flights out of Gatwick airport each year by burning 4.9m tonnes of wood annually, an analysis has shown.

Campaigners say this would make it “one of the dirtiest datacentres out there”.

Last year, the energy company Drax unveiled plans to convert part of its biomass power plant in North Yorkshire into a datacentre in response to the increase in demand for AI capability.

Famed for its puffins, the picture-perfect island of Lundy attracts birdwatchers from all over. But the island is on the cusp of being evacuated as water levels drop to the lowest levels ever, forcing residents to take drastic measures to ensure supplies do not run out.

Located in the Bristol Channel off the north Devon coast, the 5km (3.1 mile) long island is not the first place you expect to be running out of water.

It is rich with wildlife including puffins and seals and its rugged landscape makes for breathtaking views.

The UK is off track to meet its global commitments to halt and reverse nature loss by 2030, according to a new report from The Wildlife Trusts published today. The report, Route Map to Recovery— Fixing Nature in the UK, warns that continued delay risks both environmental recovery and national security and that urgent action is needed to close the gap between ambition and delivery on the ground.

Published ahead of COP17, the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) conference taking place in Armenia later this month (19–30 October), the analysis comes as the summit prepares to deliver the first major global stocktake of progress towards the Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF), agreed by 196 countries – and actively championed by the UK Government – in 2022.

Children in Devon are being invited to become “citizen captive breeders”, rearing harvest mice at home for release into the wild to help revive endangered nature.

Wild Pets, a new conservation project launched by two 14-year-old friends, is seeking 20 Devon-based children to rear hundreds of mice after the duo’s own successful restoration efforts.

The government quietly scrapped plans to prepare the countryside in England for wildfires, it has been revealed. This was despite new data showing fire crews do not have the proper protective gear to tackle them.

This summer has been a potent reminder of the scale of the threat posed by the climate crisis, with the UK experiencing record-breaking wildfires after punishingly hot and dry weather turned large parts of the countryside into a tinderbox.

In the third national climate adaptation programme, published in July 2023, the Conservative government, then headed by Rishi Sunak, said it would run a wildfire risk programme in England from 2023 to 2027 so land management would be adapted for the risk.

New technology has been installed to track how much carbon is being taken out of the atmosphere by Scotland's largest saltmarsh.

The flux tower has been put in place at Caerlaverock on the Solway Firth.

About 85% of UK saltmarshes have been lost since the mid-19th Century as land has been reclaimed from the sea for agriculture, development or coastal flood defences, degraded through pollution or eroded by rising sea levels.

Work to create an area of wetland almost the size of Hyde Park has got under way.

Diggers are being used on the arable fields of Speechly's Farm at the Great Fen nature reserve, near Ramsey in Cambridgeshire.

About 136 hectares (336 acres) will be restored over the next 12 months with pools, channels and reedbeds created for wildlife.

Nature’s seasons are changing, and a pioneering project is helping to measure what that means for the plants, wildlife and landscapes in the UK’s National Parks.

The pilot Nature’s Changing Seasons in National Parks project brings together leading partners from science and conservation with citizen engagement to investigate how climate change is affecting the rhythms of nature across the New Forest and South Downs National Parks. It’s hoped the project could then be rolled out across other protected landscapes around the UK.

Phenology is the study of recurring natural events, such as when trees come into leaf, flowers bloom, insects emerge and birds arrive or begin nesting. These seasonal events provide an important insight into how species are responding to a changing climate.

Despite signs of a so-called ‘false autumn’, with some drought-stressed trees already shedding their leaves, the charity’s tree experts say the ingredients are still there for a colourful season, particularly if the coming weeks bring cooler, settled weather. The high levels of sunshine over summer could also help produce strong colour in healthy foliage that remains.

Luke Barley, Senior National Specialist in trees and woodland at the National Trust, said: “The hot, sunny summer could still provide some of the ingredients for wonderful autumn colour, but the drought means the picture is likely to be more varied than usual.

He added: “The coming weeks will be crucial. Autumn colour always depends on a combination of factors, but after such an extraordinary summer the usual signals are much harder to read. Climate change is making our seasons more unpredictable and we're going to learn more this year about the impact of drought on autumn colour.”

Environmental groups have criticised a pilot scheme that aims to make housing developers pay a new nature levy.

The government wants parts of Norfolk to be the first areas subject to its Environmental Delivery Plan (EDP).

In order to unlock space for thousands of homes, developers would pay money that could create new wetlands, fund deer culls and restore rivers.

Diggers have begun work on a scheme to restore hundreds of acres of fen wetlands to create and connect a vast area of habitat for wildlife.

It is hoped the project across 136 hectares (336 acres) on former arable land at Speechly’s Farm, in Cambridgeshire, will become home to lapwings, snipe and cranes, water voles and “species nobody sees” such as rare water beetles.

The scheme by the Wildlife Trust for Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire (BCN) also includes two large fields of “wet farming” or paludiculture, covering 6.5 hectares (16 acres) and growing typha, bulrush, which can be used for everything from puffer jackets to insulation boards.

The discovery of a rainbow sea slug at a beach in Cornwall is an "important reminder" of climate change's impact, conservationists have said.

The Rock Pool Project, a community marine conservation organisation, said the slug, also known as babakina anadoni, was found during an event it held at Porthpean Beach in August.

It said it was the first time a rainbow sea slug, which have previously been found in other parts of Cornwall and the South West, had been spotted at Porthpean.

A project which aims to restore ancient woodlands in Sussex has hit a significant "milestone" with over 5,500 trees now recorded.

Since March 2024, volunteers with the Lost Woods project have been recording ancient, veteran and notable trees across a 121-sq-miles (314-sq-km) area from Lewes to Storrington.

According to the latest figures, they have now recorded 5,570 trees, a number which Lost Woods outreach adviser, Bob Epsom, said is more than "we expected" and signifies a "milestone" for the project.