UK Nature and Environment

A pair of tiny moths have been recorded for the first time in Hampshire.

The two moths, the chocolate-brown Gelechia scotinella and Haplotinea insectella with shimmering scales were found at Pamber Forest Nature Reserve, near Tadley north of Basingstoke.

Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust said the "first-ever Hampshire records" of the "micro-moths, often overlooked because of their small size and difficulty of identification...had made county history".

An alien species has been discovered in Norwich.

The creature – which has a two-tone body, scorpion-like pincers and wiry legs – may be the stuff of sci-fi nightmares, but at just 2-3mm long, it fortunately doesn’t pose a threat to humanity.

In fact, the critter was found living quietly under deadwood at Sweet Briar Marshes near the A140.

Britain’s street names are being inspired by skylarks, lapwings and starlings, even as bird populations decline.

According to a report by the RSPB, names such as Skylark Lane and Swift Avenue are increasingly common. Using OS Open Names data from 2004 to 2024, the conservation charity found that road names featuring bird species had risen by 350% for skylarks, 156% for starlings and 104% for lapwings, despite populations of these having fallen in the wild.

Between 1970 and 2022 the UK lost 53% of its breeding skylarks, 62% of lapwings and 89% of nightingales. The RSPB’s chief executive, Beccy Speight, said the analysis “shows councils and developers are happy to name streets after the nature we love while efforts to prevent these birds disappearing from our skies remain woefully inadequate”.

The motion, brought forward by Cllr Ginny Boxall, commits East Hampshire District Council to embedding river rights principles into future policies and decision-making. The Council will also host a dedicated rivers workshop early next year to explore how these principles can be practically applied at a local level.

The decision recognises rivers as living ecosystems deserving of legal protection and highlights the importance of safeguarding Hampshire’s globally rare chalk streams, including the River Meon, which runs through the district and supports a wide variety of wildlife.

The movement draws on the Universal Declaration of the Rights of Rivers, which recognises fundamental rights such as the right to flow, to remain free from pollution, to support biodiversity, and to regenerate.

An ambitious scheme to restore England’s nature over coming decades has been undermined after the government inserted a clause allowing it to terminate contracts with only a year’s notice, conservationists have said.

The project was designed to fund landscape-scale restoration over thousands of hectares, whether on large estates or across farms and nature reserves. The idea was to create huge reserves for rare species to thrive – projects promoted as decades-long commitments to securing habitat for wildlife well into the future.

Conservationists have warned these changes, as well as underfunding, will lead to low take-up and less land protected for nature. They say allowing contracts to be ripped up after a year is unworkable, as it would leave landowners with rewilded land they can no longer farm and too little time to reconvert it.

Back in 2009, red squirrels were thin on the ground in Aberdeen - instead grey squirrels were a common sight in the city's trees and parks.

Today the red squirrel population is thriving thanks to the efforts of a group of volunteers and their "citizen science".

It is thought the invasive, non-native greys have been almost eradicated locally - and there is now evidence of red squirrel activity yards from the city's main thoroughfare.

A major conservation project has reached its first milestone with vital improvements completed at two of West Sussex most important nature reserves as thousands of migrating birds arrive for the winter.

Work at RSPB Pulborough Brooks and RSPB Pagham Harbour has delivered new wetland habitats, improved visitor facilities and better water management in a project worth £300,000. The work forms the first major phase of the wider £2.4m Downs to the Sea programme, which began earlier this year.

The project aims to restore and create a network of blue spaces across the region. It is supported by a £1.7m grant from The National Lottery Heritage Fund, with additional funding from Southern Water and DPD.

Once upon a time — before the age of industrialisation — the North Sea teemed with marine life. But go back further still, and the land beneath the sea itself was a thriving ecosystem, home to a rich diversity of terrestrial species. Until the end of the last ice age, people and animals could move freely between Britain and continental Europe across Doggerland — a vast land bridge with hills, valleys and forests, abundant wildlife, and a significant human population. Then great ice sheets melted, sea levels rose, Doggerland slipped beneath the waves, and Britain became an island.

The highest part of Doggerland, and therefore the last part to disappear, is an area now known as Dogger Bank. Today, this vast submerged sandbank — which spans UK, Dutch, German, and Danish waters — is located around 100 kilometres off England’s east coast. Just 15 metres below the sea surface in many parts, this vital marine ecosystem serves as a nursery for sharks, rays, herring, and cod, and also forms a rich feeding ground for whales, porpoises, and seals, as well as seabirds such as puffins and gannets.

It's that time of year when you might glance up on your evening commute to see a swirling mass of starlings soaring through the air.

Starling murmurations are a natural phenomenon still only partially understood by zoologists and have intrigued us for centuries.

Even in Roman times, they fascinated Pliny the Elder, who wrote: "It is a thing unique to starlings to fly in troops and to be turned round in a circle just like a ball."

Cosy up with a wild read this winter, as The Wildlife Trust's Meg Dobson guides you through some of our best loved titles from Bloomsbury Wildlife.

This winter, unwind and reconnect with the natural world – all from the comfort of your home. As frost glitters on every surface and the low winter sun casts shadows across the ground, it feels only fitting to reach for a good book. One that will deepen our understanding of the landscapes, species and stories that shape and inspire us.

Discover a wide selection of new and notable titles from Bloomsbury Books – works that illuminate the untamed, celebrate the overlooked and offer fresh perspectives on our relationship with nature. These books promise exploration from the comfort of your favourite reading spot, so get cosy and lose yourself in nature without leaving the glow of your Christmas tree.

Red squirrels have expanded their range across the Highlands by more than a quarter after a 10-year reintroduction programme moved hundreds to new homes.

The species once came close to extinction in Britain when foresters killed them as pests and their natural habitat was destroyed. A deadly virus carried by invasive grey squirrels has hampered their recovery.

Scotland is the red’s heartland, home to 80% of the UK’s population of about 200,000. The reintroduction project, run by the rewilding charity Trees for Life, has established more than a dozen thriving new sites, from Ullapool to Morvern to Lairg.

LONDON — It is not just worshippers who are attracted to the United Kingdom’s network of traditional stone churches. Increasingly, they are also playing host to hundreds of bats.

Research carried out by the Bat Conservation Trust has revealed that over 8,000 churches provide bats with a home. The reasons for this popularity are easy to find — churches offer lots of safe, hidden places to roost within the nooks and crannies of church roof spaces. The surrounding areas offer plenty of insects to eat.

As a result, churches are proving irresistible. Over 12 bat species representing two-thirds of the native bat species, including some of the rarest, now live in churches. In the West Country, DNA analysis of droppings has revealed that some churches are home to the rare grey long-eared bat, living alongside the more common brown long-eared bats. Often, there are several different types of bats happily cohabiting the same church. It is believed that some of the roosts have been used for centuries.

What appeared to be tentacles washed up on an Aberdeenshire beach are the remains of a deep-sea creature called a seven-arm octopus, say experts.

A local member of the public spotted the arms with rows of suckers at Forvie National Nature Reserve at Collieston, near Ellon, on Sunday and alerted reserve staff.

Detective work led to the animal being identified as one of the world's largest species of octopus - although experts remain puzzled about how it washed up on the beach.

Plans have been submitted to turn an area of flood-prone grassland into a wetland nature reserve.

Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust has applied to East Lindsey District Council (ELDC) for the change of use of land off Jubilee Way, Horncastle, with the plans including landscaping and a viewing platform.

The applicant said the proposal aimed to create a "natural environmental amenity" and "visual access area" for residents.

More than 520 chemicals have been found in English soils, including pharmaceutical products and toxins that were banned decades ago, because of the practice of spreading human waste to fertilise arable land.

Research by scientists at the University of Leeds, published as a preprint in the Journal of Hazardous Materials, found a worrying array of chemicals in English soils. Close to half (46.4%) of the pharmaceutical substances detected had not been reported in previous global monitoring campaigns.

The anticonvulsants lamotrigine and carbamazepine were among the human-use medicines reported for the first time in English soils.

Cottonweed, which is part of the daisy family, was first noted by the botanist John Goodyer on Hayling Island, Hampshire, in 1621.

In recent years the plant has been in severe decline and is only found in Wexford, Ireland, having previously been widespread across the UK and Ireland.

Natural England is reintroducing the plant on Sinah Common, a site of special scientific interest on Hayling Island as part of its threatened species recovery actions programme.

Cumbria Wildlife Trust said at least 14 grey seal pups were born at its South Walney Nature Reserve near Barrow from late August.

The trust said that it had been a "really early season" this year with more than 563 seals counted at the site between September 2024 and March 2025.

Alex Wright from North West Wildlife Trusts said it had been "really special" and was "amazing to have them here in Cumbria".

’Tis the season to spread kindness – and, though that can include your friends, family, and neighbours, according to The Wildlife Trusts, “winter is a great chance to make a difference to the creatures on your doorstep,” too.

Tom Hibbert, a wildlife expert from the charity, told HuffPost UK that as the colder weather creeps in, “water and food sources become scarce, and nature needs our helping hand”.

Dr Benedict Dempsey, people and nature advisor at WWF, agrees, noting that “our gardens and outdoor spaces become vital refuges for wildlife preparing for the coldest months ahead”.

A wildlife charity said it was facing a "woodland crisis" as trees were increasingly suffering with disease.

The Wildlife Trust for Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire shared the result of its largest survey of woodland nature reserves.

Of almost 6,000 trees surveyed, it found that 29% had diseases while 82% of ash trees, the worst affected species, were suffering from ash dieback fungal disease.

One of the rarest fungi in Britain has been discovered for the first time in Alderney, a wildlife trust has said.

The date waxcap was found by ecologist Niamh McDevitt earlier this month, said Alderney Wildlife Trust.

The trust said there had been only about 100 sightings of the species ever recorded in the UK.

An environmental campaigner who founded a charity to help children from ethnic minorities access nature says the cultural landscape has "shifted" since she began her work a decade ago.

Dr Mya-Rose Craig, 23, nicknamed 'Birdgirl', set up Black2Nature at the age of 13 to connect more children from Visible Minority Ethnic (VME) communities with the outdoors.

Reflecting on the charity's 10th anniversary, she said the current environment feels "very different"; although there is still "a lot of progress to be made".

Diary of a nature-friendly farmer

Much of the UK is farmed – about 70% – and most of East Anglia, where I was born and bred, is dominated by farmland. Farming in East Anglia varies with changes in climate and soil type, and that in turn lends itself to supporting a diverse range of farmland species too.
Land supporting nature

As you go to the lighter land of the Brecklands, you can grow sugar beet and potatoes. This landscape also supports rare Stone Curlews and Turtle Doves, and specialist arable plants. In North Cambridgeshire and Lincolnshire, we have the fenland soils that are the best in the country for growing onions, carrots and other fresh veg! These lands support Lapwings and other wading birds, while Corn Buntings and Skylarks thrive in the big open fields like we have in South Cambridgeshire. These fields are typical of the land at Hope Farm, where wheat is our main bread-maker, literally.

We are encouraging people across the UK to participate in the PondNet Spawn Survey, launching on 1st December. Anyone can get involved by recording Common Frog and Common Toad spawn they have spotted in their garden, community ponds, or in the countryside.

We have been collecting data on sightings of breeding frogs and toads since 2012. Last year’s survey was the biggest so far, with 2,657 records submitted.

The PondNet Spawn Survey is accessible to all and is a way for adults and children to get outdoors and connect with nature, whilst also helping to provide a better understanding of when and where frogs and toads are breeding.

Communities across south-east England are filing the first coordinated legal complaints that sewage pollution by Thames Water negatively affects their lives.

Thames Water failed to complete upgrades to 98 treatment plants and pumping stations which have the worst records for sewage pollution into the environment, despite a promise to invest in them over the last five years.

People in 13 areas including Hackney, Oxford, Richmond upon Thames and Wokingham are sending statutory nuisance complaints to their local authorities demanding accountability from Thames Water and urgent action.

Wood-burning stoves to face partial ban in Labour’s updated environment plan

Exclusive: Pollution targets set out alongside nature recovery projects to allay concerns over housebuilding Helena Horton and Peter Walker Mon 1 Dec 2025 06.00 CET

Wood-burning stoves are likely to face tighter restrictions in England under new pollution targets set as part of an updated environmental plan released by ministers on Monday.

Speaking to the Guardian before the publication of the updated environmental improvement plan (EIP), the environment secretary, Emma Reynolds, said it would boost nature recovery in a number of areas, replacing an EIP under the last government she said was “not credible”.

Reynolds said efforts to restore nature would now take place on “a strategic level” rather than a previously piecemeal approach, arguing this meant the government’s push to build housing and infrastructure could still come with a net gain in habitats.