The government has today (Wednesday 15 July) secured the long-term future of Dartmoor’s iconic pony populations through a package of new protections and financial support.

These heritage rare breeds and semi-wild hill ponies are a much-cherished part of Dartmoor’s landscape and cultural heritage. They also play an important role in conserving protected environmental sites on the moor – and the government is committed to ensuring their numbers do not fall below current levels.

From today, Dartmoor ponies will be removed from stocking rate calculations in new Environmental Management agreements, so that farmers do not face a choice between keeping ponies and maintaining sheep or cattle. This implements recommendation 27 of the 2023 Fursdon Review, an independent review of protected site management on Dartmoor. Pony numbers will also be monitored across the moor to ensure they remain stable.

A grey squirrel control co-ordinator in southern Scotland has said their "complete extermination" is the only way to protect red squirrels in the area from a deadly virus.

A number of cases of squirrelpox have been confirmed in the Borders and other parts of the country in recent weeks.

Bill Ferguson of the Central Borders Red Squirrel Network said it meant there was no other option to stop the spread of the disease than "eradication of the grey squirrel".

The Big Butterfly Count is a nationwide citizen science survey aimed at helping us assess the health of our environment. It was launched in 2010 and has rapidly become the world's biggest survey of butterflies.

The Big Butterfly Count 2026 reopens on the 1st of July ready for the main event between the 17th of July and 9th of August. All the counts can be viewed on the interactive map.

We count butterflies because not only are they beautiful creatures to be around but they are also extremely important. They are vital parts of the ecosystem as both pollinators and components of the food chain. However, they are under threat. Numbers of butterflies and moths in the UK have decreased significantly since the 1970s. This is a warning that cannot be ignored.

Bottom trawlers drag heavy metal gear and nets that can weigh several tonnes across the seafloor, scooping up almost all life in their path.

This damaging form of fishing has specific severe impacts across the marine ecosystem and is rampant in areas designed to safeguard some of Britain’s most beloved wildlife such as puffins and porpoises, the new Oceana UK report Trawled and Mauled has revealed.

Currently, there are no UK marine protected areas (MPAs) designated for whales, dolphins or porpoises that are fully protected from bottom trawling across the whole site, and only two for seabirds.

Wildlife protection frameworks in both the EU and the UK need stronger and more consistent implementation—and must recognize animals as "individuals capable of experiencing suffering," rather than mere ecological assets.

This is the argument from authors of a new peer-reviewed study, which provides the first comprehensive comparative examination of EU and UK wildlife legislation in the post-Brexit era and exposes a disconnect between ambitious policy goals and practical implementation.

The research team, environmental lawyers Dr. Caroline Cox and Dr. Meganne Natali of the University of Portsmouth, reveal significant shortcomings in wildlife protection frameworks across Europe and the United Kingdom, despite decades of legislative development and billions in conservation investment.

The UK government has been accused of “rushing through” planning changes that could give developers permission to “trash” nature for as little as £1.

A letter signed by more than 100 conservationists, scientists, celebrities and businesses, including the actor and writer Stephen Fry and the broadcaster Chris Packham, has urged the incoming prime minister, Andy Burnham, to immediately halt the rollout of environmental delivery plans (EDPs).

These plans, which were introduced through the Planning and Infrastructure Act, applying mainly to England and Wales, allow developers to sidestep environmental laws by instead paying into a national nature levy. Campaign groups say this allows developers to pay “cash to trash” wildlife.

The nature charity WWF has called for more trees and natural surfaces to be brought into school playgrounds to help regulate soaring temperatures during heatwaves.

Schools are usually surrounded by open spaces, and over recent years these have increasingly been converted into artificial surfaces such as asphalt, astroturf and rubber crumb. These surfaces absorb much more heat than natural ones like grass, soil or sand, which in turn heats the air around the school.

In the record-breaking June heatwave, extreme heat forced hundreds of schools to close and many more to keep children indoors - 63% of primary school teachers, who responded to a recent poll, said they’d been forced to keep children indoors over break or lunch, while 97% said they had made changes to the way they use their outdoor space. Some reported classroom temperatures which exceeded 40 degrees.

UK business leaders, senior government officials, scientists and conservation experts are coming together in Edinburgh today (15 July 2026) to take collective action on biodiversity loss – one of the most significant strategic risks facing businesses today.

Hosted by JNCC, the UK Business and Biodiversity Forum (UKBBF) and NatureScot, Biodiversity + Business Live will focus on translating global insight into tangible, strategic action for business and examine how nature-positive leadership can create long-term value and resilience, inform strategic decision-making, enable collaboration at scale, and drive credible business action.

Dr Gemma Harper OBE, Chief Executive of JNCC said: “Nature underpins our economy, our businesses and our communities, yet the evidence is clear that the natural systems we depend on are under increasing pressure. Biodiversity loss is not just an environmental challenge – it is a strategic business risk.

“What we used to think of as extreme, we increasingly consider as normal.” That is the summarising comment from Mike Kendon, the Met Office lead author of the latest edition of the State of the UK Climate report.

The report, which covers 2025 puts the latest year and decade into a historical context, tells us about the changes already seen in the UK’s climate.

The key change in the UK’s climate is the ongoing rise in temperatures, with extremes particularly affected.

The fight is on to save a rare ecosystem of chalk streams referred to as the Amazon of the UK.

The UK is home to 85% of the world's chalk streams – clear waterways teeming with unique wildlife – but there are concerns about their future, with the usual threats to rivers hanging over them, including pollution.

This year, a bill was introduced in Parliament in a bid to give them protected status with Unesco. It is due to have a second reading in October.

There have been more than 50,000 fish killed in Northern Ireland because of water pollution incidents during the past five years.

The kills were caused by 65 separate pollution incidents in rivers and waterways.

Most of the fish kills took place in counties Armagh, Tyrone and Fermanagh and in almost half of the incidents, authorities took no further action.

Most of the UK media stories about the record-breaking heatwave that struck in June failed to mention the climate crisis, analysis has found.

Nearly 2,500 articles about the extreme heat – when temperatures topped 37C, a record for the time of year – appeared in the UK’s nine main national daily media publications. But nearly three-quarters of them – about 72% – left out any mention of global heating or the climate, according to the analysis by the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU).

Even fewer pieces drew a link between the heatwave and government policies designed to tackle the climate crisis – less than one in 20 heatwave stories mentioned “net zero”.