UK Nature and Environment

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.

Warblers are so called because of their varied songs.

These small, very active birds are mainly insectivorous but also eat seasonal berries and seeds. Most species migrate to warmer climates to over-winter and warbler species make up a significant proportion of the passage migrants moving through Shetland in autumn.

The warblers which breed in the UK can be divided into four general groups, leaf (Phylloscopus), grasshopper (Locustella), garden (Sylvia) and reed (Acrocephalus). Each group has different habitat and feeding preferences.

Trees for Life is to launch a pioneering 'missing species programme' to bring back four of Scotland’s lost keystone animals – lynx, beavers, red squirrels, and modern-day aurochs – to the Scottish Highlands.

The plans aim to tackle the nature and climate emergencies while generating significant benefits for communities, including through nature tourism.

This ambitious programme will require £3.6m to fund its first five years and achieve its aims, including for detailed habitat assessments and community engagement to meet Scotland’s strict licensing requirements.

A £50,000 Nature Recovery Fund has been established to protect wildlife and habitats.

Westmorland and Furness Council unveiled the fund on November 28 aiming to restore local nature.

The money will be allocated to projects that help one or more priority species recover or control and eliminate invasive non-native species as listed in the Cumbria Local Nature Recovery Strategy (LNRS).

Leading scientists, land managers and environmental campaigners have set out what must be done to save Scotland’s ancient forest, saying, "we must not stand by and see them lost".

The group have published a paper outlining the steps required to overcome threats to Scotland's "magnificent formations of nature", Caledonian pinewoods. The risks it details include overgrazing by excessive deer numbers, inappropriate fencing, mounding and planting, and the invasion of non-native species, including rhododendrons.

Plantings near pinewoods, like those at Kinrara by former 'Lost Forest' owners, Brewdog, which were supported by Scottish Government funding, are among those criticised by some of the authors.

A "treasure" of Northern Ireland's countryside has had a bumper year, thanks to warm weather and conservation efforts.

The Marsh Fritillary butterfly used to be widespread across the UK and Ireland but plummeted in the last century as farming practices changed.

After years of work with landowners by the charity Butterfly Conservation, the latest survey of silken caterpillar nests has seen huge increases.

Ferry passengers on Scotland's west coast often celebrate spotting wildlife in the waves as they travel between the Hebdrides and the mainland.

But conservationists also use the network of CalMac ferry routes to gain insight into the lives of native whales and dolphins.

For six months every year volunteers from the Ocean Research and Conservation Association (Orca) carry out surveys from the boats.

Adders in the Yorkshire Dales are to be studied as part of a national project examining how healthy their populations are across England.

The Nidderdale National Landscape (NNL), a designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, is playing a leading role in the Natural England recovery project.

Scientists said the snakes were in decline nationally, with Nidderdale selected for the DNA analysis study due to its "well-monitored populations and extensive semi-natural habitats".

A new antenna which tracks birds has made its first detection.

Teesside's RSBP Saltholme reserve manager Chris Francis said its Motus antenna, which was installed in May, would help researchers better understand the migratory patterns of the animals.

He said the structure had picked up its first birds - two jack snipes - earlier this month. The pair had had travelled from Sweden, albeit via two different slightly routes, according to the Motus tracking network.

The Fiddlers Hill wetland project in Fordham, Essex has recently been completed. This natural flood management scheme increases the meadow’s capacity to hold water during heavy rainfall whilst creating habitats and enhancing biodiversity.

Large, shallow ponds known as scrapes have been dug across 5 hectares of floodplain grazing meadow on the River Colne, upstream of Colchester. Work included excavating ponds, expanding fen areas, creating shallow channels, and lowering riverbanks to encourage seasonal flooding.

What was once farmland has been transformed into diverse wetland habitats with increased capacity to hold water. The ponds will help reduce the risk of flooding locally, including to the road on nearby Fiddlers Hill. If this approach can be replicated at multiple sites throughout the catchment however, cumulative flood risk benefits may be delivered to communities downstream including Colchester.

Chris Packham: Nature loss is 'on my conscience'

Plans to help green spaces, waterways and wildlife in the West Midlands "survive and thrive" have been unveiled.

More than 60 actions, including restoring wildlife habitats, improving rivers and canals, planting more trees and opening more urban green spaces, are outlined in a strategy developed by the combined authority.

Measures would "boost biodiversity, improve quality of life for the region's three million residents, help adapt to climate change, and create green jobs", it stated.

A sighting of a pilot whale along the shoreline of Orkney should be a source of joy and wonder at the beauty of the natural world. Yet the two lone pilot whales spotted in waters off the Orkney islands of Westray and North Ronaldsay in August this year appear to tell a darker tale.

Why are whales stranding along Scotland’s coast?

27 November 2025 7 minutes

A minke whale, entangled in fishing gear, found dead on a beach on Sanday in Orkney A minke whale, entangled in fishing gear, found dead on a beach on Sanday in Orkney. Image: Emma Neave-Webb/Scottish Marine Animal Strandings Scheme Mark Rowe investigates the surge in whale strandings along Scotland’s coast — a warning sign, scientists say, of deeper changes in the North Atlantic ecosystem

A sighting of a pilot whale along the shoreline of Orkney should be a source of joy and wonder at the beauty of the natural world. Yet the two lone pilot whales spotted in waters off the Orkney islands of Westray and North Ronaldsay in August this year appear to tell a darker tale.

The two cetaceans are believed to have been survivors from a pod of pilot whales, 23 of which were found washed up on Roo Beach, at the northern end of Sanday, another Orcadian island, that same month.

The mass stranding came at a grim time, near the anniversary of the death of 77 pilot whales at Tresness in the southeast of Sanday in July 2024. The two events are part of a bleak trend: a marked increase in cetacean strandings, not only in Orkney but all around Scotland’s coastline.

On a mild autumn day I might catch a red admiral butterfly taking the last of summer’s nectar, basking in sunshine or flying among the rooftops against a brilliant blue sky. I keep a mental log of my last butterfly sighting of the year, which soon becomes my first butterfly of the new year. Both are always a red admiral.

It wasn’t very long ago that the red admiral was strictly a migrant species here, arriving from continental Europe and North Africa in spring, and leaving again in autumn, our winters too cold for them to survive. Now, owing to climate change, some stay for winter instead of migrating south.

They don’t seem to hibernate in the same way as other butterflies, such as the small tortoiseshell and peacock, which enter a more consistent dormant state. So it’s common to see them on mild, sunny days, delighting those of us looking for a glimpse of spring.

The Cairngorms National Park's peregrine falcon population may have halved over the last two decades, according to new research.

Scottish Raptor Monitoring Scheme carried out its first park-wide survey of the birds of prey last year.

It found the number of breeding pairs had declined by 56% since 2002 with the majority of them failing to successfully fledge chicks.