UK Nature and Environment

Hampshire & Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust is celebrating the return of one of the UK’s most cherished and threatened woodland mammals, the hazel dormouse, to Swanpond Copse Nature Reserve near Ryde.

This marks the first confirmed sighting of this iconic species since 2018.

During a recent dormouse survey, Trust ecologists were thrilled to discover a fresh dormouse nest – and inside, 2 sleepy dormice nestled together, with a third recorded later that day. With no confirmed dormice seen at the reserve for the past 6 years, this rediscovery is a major conservation milestone.

The Government has said it will not be extending the badger cull and retains its commitment to end the practice before the next election.

Culling is used to control the spread of bovine tuberculosis (bTB) in cattle by reducing badger populations.

However, critics argue that bTB often spreads cattle to cattle and that other methods of controlling the disease can be more effective.

Researchers have warned kayakers and paddleboarders may be unknowingly disturbing whales, dolphins and seals in Scottish waters.

Heriot-Watt University, with support from the Whale and Dolphin Conservation, has documented hundreds of interactions between vessels and marine mammals.

The study, external included more than 400 hours of land-based observations across five marine regions, including protected areas.

The Government will invest water company fines into local projects across the country to clean up our rivers, lakes and seas.

Over £100m in fines and penalties levied against water companies since October 2023, as well as future fines and penalties, will be reinvested into projects to clean up our waters which could include local programmes to address pollution and improve water quality.

When water companies breach their environmental permits – for example by releasing excessive pollution into a river – that is a criminal offence. The most serious cases, like illegal sewage spills, see water company fines issued and criminal prosecutions for water bosses.

An area of farmland in Co Fermanagh has been preserved as a nature reserve. The 90-acre area at Fedian has been described as brimming with wildflower meadows, bird-friendly hedgerows and ancient woodland.

It has now been purchased by nature conservation charity Ulster Wildlife as its newest nature reserve thanks to funding support from The National Lottery Heritage Fund, The Wildlife Trusts, and gifts in wills from Ulster Wildlife supporters.

Fedian Nature Reserve, located close to Derrygonnelly is termed as a living example of traditional, pre-war farmland, previously owned by the Nixon family and sympathetically managed by local grazier George Ferguson.

More than half of people think they know what a “temperate rainforest” is, but far fewer realise the rare habitat is found on Britain’s shores, polling suggests.

Nature charity Plantlife is calling for greater protection of Britain’s hidden and largely vanished rainforests, including government funding, full legal protection and long-term support for forest managers, and point to polling that finds support for the habitat is strongly backed by the public.

The poll of more than 2,000 people by Opinion Matters for Plantlife found that 58% thought they understood what a temperate rainforest was.

Red squirrels are enjoying a nutty revival thanks to a stealthy forest assassin which is gobbling up their grey cousins.

Pine martens are stoat-like hunters which petrify the native bushy-tailed rodents but dozy greys are oblivious to their threat, a new study has found.

Numbers of native reds are soaring as they have lived alongside the predators for centuries and are wise to their wily ways. The cat-sized mammals are part of the weasel family and are critically endangered across the UK.

A common crane chick has hatched for the first time in three years at a wetland centre.

It is just the second to hatch to its parents, who have been at WWT Washington Wetland Centre, near Sunderland, since 2008.

The adult pair were originally hatched in the Netherlands and moved to Washington in the early stages of the Great Crane Project, which has seen the bird successfully integrated to the UK.

The Great Stag Hunt, run by People’s Trust for Endangered Species (PTES), has been running for over 25 years. Native stag beetles – with the males’ iconic antler-like jaws – have sadly become extinct in parts of in Britain and Europe, where they used to live. Data from the Great Stag Hunt, collected since 1998, is vital for conservationists to understand where stag beetles remain, where they’re no longer living and what the impact of climate change might be on populations.

Taking part is easy: people in all corners of England, Scotland and Wales are asked to simply look out for these impressive insects and record any sightings online. Whether you’re out on a walk, commuting, on the school run, walking your dog or heading to the pub – anyone can take part!

Stag beetles are often found in urban and suburban gardens and parks, as well as woodland edges and the wider countryside. They’re also often spotted basking on sunlit walls and warm tarmac surfaces, while their larvae (large white grubs) are found underground, among the roots of old tree stumps. Males are instantly recognisable with their antler-like jaws and are often seen flying on warm sunny evenings in search of females, which are slightly smaller and more conker-coloured.

Insects are in trouble. Around the world, scientists are reporting catastrophic declines in their numbers, even in nature reserves that are largely protected from human touch. We are also beginning to see huge drops in the populations of other animals – such as birds – that depend on insects as food.

Many of the drivers of those declines are structural, and require strong action by governments to turn around. But there are clear, easy steps that anyone can take to support the insect world. For species under such pressure, any respite is important, and we can create refuges for insects in a world increasingly hostile to their survival. In creating better habitats for insects, you can also reap the benefits: thriving gardens, more songbirds, and a healthier web of life.

Here are 25 small, achievable, science-backed actions you can take today – at home, in the garden, or out in the city.

Nightjars are nocturnal birds, that migrate to breed in the UK each summer from their wintering grounds in Central Africa, arriving in late April and May before leaving by August and September. 

Exceptionally well-camouflaged, Nightjars are notoriously difficult to see. Their grey-brown mottled plumage creates the illusion of bark, helping them blend into the ground where they nest. These unique-looking birds feed on the wing, flying with their mouths open to catch insects which they find with their excellent eyesight.

Work to restore the heathland habitat that Nightjars need is helping to turn around their fortunes. Lowland heathland supports a wide range of wildlife but is one of the UK’s most threatened homes for nature, with 80% of this habitat lost in the UK since the 1800s. 

The UK could see a boom in endangered sharks, rays and native oysters as species move habitats to respond to rising ocean temperatures, according to scientists.

But some, including a clam that is the world's longest living animal, could struggle to adapt.

Researchers at the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science mapped for the first time how 19 threatened marine species will respond to climate change in UK seas.

Dangerous modern pesticides used in agriculture and pet flea treatment have been detected for the first time in English rivers, research has found.

Scientists have called for stricter regulation around high-risk farming pesticides and flea treatments for pets because of the deadly effects they have on fish and other aquatic life when they make their way into rivers.

The research, by the British Geological Survey, evaluated the pollution by such pesticides in the waters and sediments of two English rivers: the Tone in Somerset, which runs through Taunton; and the Wensum in Norfolk, which runs through Norwich.

A chemical that scientists worry might have an impact on human reproduction has been found in rivers across the UK.

Researchers from York University analysed samples from 32 rivers in all the UK's 4 nations and found traces of trifluoroacetic acid (TFA) at 98% of the test locations.

TFA is what's known as a "forever chemical" which means that it breaks down extremely slowly in nature, and so accumulates over time.

Scotland's west coast harbour seal numbers have dropped significantly  for the first time in decades.

The population fell by 20% between 2018 and 2023, in a region long considered the last stronghold for the marine mammal in the UK.

Conservation experts said the findings - carried out by the University of St Andrews - should serve as "a real wake-up call".

People are being encouraged to take part in a survey which aims to provide a snapshot of the state of Somerset's wildlife.

Somerset Wildlife Trust has said The Big Count 2025 needs as many volunteers as possible to record animals in gardens, parks and community green spaces.

The environmental charity said the survey provided "vital" information about 150 species and monitored changes in wildlife throughout the county.

The creator of a forest garden in Devon, the oldest of its kind in Europe, says it is giving insights into how wildlife adapts to climate change.

The self-seeding garden on Dartington Estate is managed by the Agroforestry Research Trust, external (ART) and contains both native and non-native plants.

Creator Martin Crawford said he had seen how the garden adapted to the changing climate over the last 30 years: "Some plants are doing much better than they did 30 years ago, things like Persimmons for example."

He said ART was in discussions with the Dartington Hall Trust (DHT) to secure the forest garden's future.

The swift (Apus apus) is an acrobatic aerial bird, a remarkable sprinter and endurance flyer that rarely touches the ground. When these sickle-winged birds do come down – after several years in perpetual flight, even sleeping midair – it is to nest in the eaves of roofs across Europe after spending winters in sub-Saharan Africa, migrating 7,000 miles (11,000km) every year. They are celebrated by nature lovers, artists and poets as they race through city skies on long summer evenings, filling the air with their screaming calls.

The fastest bird in level flight (top speed: 69mph/111kph), they feed on airborne insects. Swifts are in trouble because of steep declines in insects, but also because they are losing traditional nesting sites. Swifts once nested in caves and hollow trees but moved into buildings hundreds of years ago. Modern insulation, particularly in roofs, removes the crevices and cavities where they have nested for centuries.

Campaigners against the pollution in the River Severn have staged a peaceful protest in a town in Worcestershire.

About 100 people went to the banks of the river in Bewdley on Sunday, including rock legend Robert Plant, who is supporting local efforts to protect it.

People marched through the town and sailed coffins on the water to raise awareness of what they said was a dying eco-system because of sewage overflow and fertiliser run off.

Following a successful reintroduction to the River Thaw last summer, conservationists have released a further 140 Water Voles to help bring back the UK’s fastest declining mammal to South Wales.

The Wildlife Trust of South and West Wales (WTSWW), South East Wales Rivers Trust (SEWRT), Initiative for Nature Conservation Cymru (INCC), Natural Resources Wales (NRW), and Vale of Glamorgan Council’s Restore the Thaw Landscape project, with local landowners, are working together to bring Water Voles back to the Vale of Glamorgan.

This survey follows a release of 200 captive bred Water Voles in August last year, marking their return to River Thaw after a 20-year absence. Although elusive animals, there are plenty of signs that they are doing well and have spread out from their original release site along the Thaw.

Cuckoos are a widespread and familiar bird across much of the UK, and many people can recognise the famously onomatopoeic song, but sadly we have lost more than a third of our breeding Cuckoos since 1995.

Researchers from BTO have been delving into every aspect of these characterful birds’ lives, trying to better understand the causes behind these continuing, and concerning declines.

Since 2011, more than 130 Cuckoos from around the UK and Ireland have been fitted with state-of-the-art tags which can be located by satellites passing overhead. Based on the frequency of the signals that the tags transmit, scientists can follow the birds’ routes in real time, allowing them to potentially identify significant obstacles and challenges that these remarkable travellers face as they make their epic cross-continental journeys. This spring an additional six birds have been fitted with these tags.

A species of musical insect extinct in the UK has been reintroduced to the country from France, conservationists have said.

The Species Recovery Trust released 11 New Forest cicadas this week into a habitat at Paultons Park, near the Hampshire woods where they previously lived.

The New Forest cicada, or Cicadetta montana, used to be found across the New Forest, but the last confirmed sightings were in the 1990s.

One of the world's rarest plants - with just four known examples left in the wild - has flowered at a nursery set up to try to prevent the decline of Wales' Arctic alpine species.

Snowdonia hawkweed - nicknamed "the Welsh dodo" - was thought to be extinct until a plant was found in 2002 in Eryri National Park.

Ecologist Robbie Blackhall-Miles scaled a cliff face somewhere in the Ogwen Valley above Bethesda in 2023 to document the remaining plants and take a cutting to replant.

A Kent nature reserve is playing a crucial role in efforts to restore southern England's Eurasian Curlew population, which faces the threat of local extinction within two decades.

Elmley NNR, located on the Isle of Sheppey, is currently raising 39 curlew chicks hatched from eggs collected in northern England. The birds will be released into the wild later this summer as part of the South of England Curlew Project, led by the Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust (GWCT).

The first headstarted birds were released at the site in 2023.

Eurasian Curlew numbers in southern England have declined sharply in recent decades, with as few as 200 breeding pairs remaining to the south of Birmingham. The collapse has been linked to habitat loss and high levels of predation.

Badger TB vaccinations increased to a record high by 24% across the country last year, as part of a major drive to increase badger vaccination and end the badger cull. It’s part of significant progress made in a range of areas to deliver on its manifesto pledge to end badger culling by the end of the Parliament.

A total of 4,110 badgers were vaccinated against the devastating animal disease in England last year, an increase of over 1,000 from 2023.

The government is also accelerating the rollout of the badger vaccination further with the launch of a new Badger Vaccinator Field Force coming into force next year which will increase badger vaccination at pace to drive down TB rates and protect badgers.