GreyShuck

A study focused on protecting Scotland's capercaillie population by managing predators through non-lethal means has seen brood numbers double in target areas.

The capercaillie is a ground-nesting bird that, with just over 500 left in the wild, is in danger of extinction in the UK. One contributor to its decline is the eating of eggs and chicks by predators, including another protected species, the pine marten.

Diversionary feeding is a conservation technique designed to reduce predator impacts on vulnerable species without harming the predators themselves. By providing an alternative, easy meal - deer carrion in this study - it gives predators a readily accessible food source so they don’t need to search for rarer food like capercaillie nests in the same area.

New detailed assessments of marine protected areas (MPA) in Wales show which habitats and species are doing well in Welsh waters, but highlight the need for more action to improve habitat, biodiversity and water quality, according to Natural Resources Wales (NRW).

A total of 85 features designated across 17 marine special areas of conservation (SACs) and special protected areas (SPAs) have been assessed to determine if their conservation objectives are being met. This covers 37% of the Welsh Marine Protected Area network.

These features include a range of rare and protected species and habitats, such as grey seals, sea lamprey, otter, sandbanks, mudflats, reefs and saltmarsh.

In March 2020, the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) launched the Forests for our Future programme. This initiative set an ambitious target: to plant 18 million trees and create 9,000 hectares of new woodland by 2030. This was in the context of the ongoing nature and climate crises and the important role of woodlands as nature-based solutions.

The programme supports woodland creation by providing grant aid to cover associated costs, with funding available through the Small Woodland Grant Scheme and the Forest Expansion Scheme.

This year marks the halfway point of the 10-year Forests for our Future programme. While woodland planting rates have increased since its launch, progress remains well below the level required to meet the 9,000 hectare target. To date, 2,016 hectares of new woodland have been created through the Small Woodland Grant Scheme and the Forest Expansion Scheme, less than a quarter of the overall goal at the programme’s midpoint. This shortfall highlights the urgent need for DAERA to accelerate delivery if the full ambition of the initiative is to be achieved.

The Royal Zoological Society of Scotland (RZSS) and its partners have launched the first-ever Pine Hoverfly Conservation Strategy, a landmark plan designed to safeguard one of Britain’s most endangered native species and restore the health of the native woodland ecosystems it calls home.

The strategy, developed by the Pine Hoverfly Steering Group as part of the Rare Invertebrates in the Cairngorms (RIC) project, sets out a coordinated, science-led approach focused on breeding, habitat restoration, identification of suitable release sites, post-release monitoring and securing ongoing project funding. This comprehensive plan aims to reverse the decline of the pine hoverfly, an insect that plays a crucial role as both pollinator and decomposer in Scotland’s forest environments.

Dr Helen Taylor, conservation programme manager at RZSS, said, “The Pine Hoverfly Conservation Strategy is a major milestone. It provides a clear roadmap for improving the long-term prospects of this species and highlights the importance of a collaborative effort across multiple organisations to maximise chances of conservation success. Having a clear strategy is recognised as a key step in reversing the decline of threatened species and is a key part of the work that RZSS is involved in.

A monumental clean-up operation has commenced in Kent to remove 30,000 tonnes of hazardous waste illegally dumped in a woodland in Kent.

The extensive effort at Hoad’s Wood in Ashford, coordinated by the Environment Agency, is expected to take a year to complete.

The vast quantities of harmful material, which first appeared in 2023, are piled up to 15ft high in some areas of the woodland.

The UK Pollinator Monitoring Scheme (PoMS), which engages thousands of citizen scientists to record insects on surveys across the UK countryside and gardens, is emphasising the value of having a wide range of plants and habitats to support a diverse range of pollinators.

The latest annual report of the scheme, coordinated by the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (UKCEH), has been published at the start of Insect Week 2025, organised by the Royal Entomological Society (RES). The RES is calling on everyone to pledge to discover, observe and protect insects in all their fascinating glory.

The PoMS report highlights some interesting findings from 2024.

Hidden but vulnerable marine treasure discovered in collaboration between the Marine Biological Association, Silverback Films and Open Planet Studios.

In an extraordinary moment of chance during the production of Ocean with David Attenborough, a vibrant and exceptionally well-preserved pink sea fan reef has been discovered off the southwest coast of England. The find, described as a “little sanctuary”, showcases a flourishing underwater habitat that has remained hidden until now.  

This vibrant, undisturbed habitat, teeming with marine life, was uncovered by researchers from the Marine Biological Association (MBA) and filmmakers on Ocean with David Attenborough, and underscores both the resilience of the ocean and the urgent need to protect its hidden treasures. 

A rich fenland has been chosen as one of four locations in Europe to trial a system of "wet farming" to maintain valuable wildlife ecosystems.

Great Fen at Speechly's Farm, between Peterborough and Huntingdon, is part of a so-called "paludiculture" pilot, known as the PaluWise project.

The method involves growing without draining the land - and at the Great Fen it will be used to grow crops including bulrush and wet grassland.

The combination of sunny spring weather and habitat improved by a herd of red Devon cattle has led to a surge in numbers of one of the UK’s rarest butterflies on moorland in the English west country.

As well as increasing in established pockets on Exmoor, the heath fritillary is spreading to new areas, which experts say is highly unusual.

More than 1,000 heath fritillary butterflies, nicknamed the woodman’s follower, have been seen at sites on the National Trust’s Holnicote Estate on Exmoor and nearby land, a significant rise from about 600 at the same time last year.

A moth species long thought to be extinct in England has made a dramatic return, rediscovered at local conservation charity Kent Wildlife Trust’s Lydden Temple Ewell Reserve near Dover after a 73-year absence.

Periclepsis cinctana, once known as the ‘Dover Tortrix’ and more recently renamed the ‘Tiree Twist’, was last recorded in England in 1952. Believed to survive only on the remote Scottish island of Tiree, its rediscovery has stunned the UK conservation community.

The breakthrough came when Rebecca Levey, an ecologist with Butterfly Conservation, was surveying the site with volunteers searching for Straw Belle caterpillars. Spotting the small chalky-white moth with distinctive orangey-brown markings, she immediately recognised its significance and contacted Dave Shenton, Kent Wildlife Trust’s Local Wildlife Sites Officer and Kent County Moth Recorder.

This Insect Week (June 23rd to 29th), The Wildlife Trusts and Royal Horticultural Society are asking gardeners to look out for hornet look-a-likes, as part of their ‘Be a hoverfly hero’ campaign.

According to insect experts at the two organisations, nature can be canny: what you think is a hornet may be a hoverfly disguised as its more fearsome fellow pollinator – both do important jobs in your garden.

These creatures are deploying a cunning art – Batesian mimicry – named after explorer Henry Walter Bates. Whilst exploring Amazon rainforests, he noted that many species had evolved to look scarier than they actually were, to avoid being eaten by predators.

Woodland where 12 football fields worth of trees was illegally felled by its owner is to become a nature reserve after an organisation which helped in a long-running court case bought the land.

Jeff Lane caused a "devastating loss" to the environment by the illegal felling of 2,000 trees in 2019 on more than eight hectares (20 acres) on Gower, Swansea.

At the time, Natural Resources Wales (NRW) called it the worst case of illegal tree felling it had seen in 30 years.