UK Nature and Environment

Did you know, that Autumn is one of the best times of year to scatter wildflower seeds? Co-founder of Seedball, Ana Attlee, tells us 5 reasons why you should make Autumn you’re gardening time of choice...

As Summer’s vivid colours begin to transition to the rich, warm tones of Autumn, there’s a wildflower gardening secret that often goes unnoticed: in the UK Autumn is the perfect time to scatter wildflower seed balls (and sow your collected seed from this year’s wildflowers).

In the UK, Autumn typically begins to make its presence felt from the end of August into September. This is when you’ll notice a gradual cooling of temperature, the days becoming shorter, and subtle changes in the environment, such as increased moisture in the air, a crispness and earthy scent. These signs indicate that the season is shifting, even as summer lingers on the calendar. While many of us think to Spring as the season for planting, nature herself does otherwise. British native wildflowers naturally release their seeds in Autumn, following a cycle that has evolved to match our climate over millennia. So this year why not embrace this natural rhythm and prepare your garden, balcony or window pots for a wildlife-friendly welcome next spring.

An ambitious vision for how the UK’s seabed can continue to support the accelerated delivery of nature recovery and the transition to clean energy has been set out by The Crown Estate, which manages the seabed around England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Amid increasing demand on the seabed from sectors critical to the UK economy, The Crown Estate has been working with stakeholders to develop initial plans for a ground-breaking Marine Delivery Routemap.

We are appalled to hear that the badger cull will once again go ahead in Derbyshire.

We understand the devastation that bovine tuberculosis (bTB) causes to affected farmers and the wider farming community, but we need to find the right mechanisms to control the disease. However, badgers are not the primary cause of the spread of bTB in cattle.

On 30th August, the Government launched its strategy to use a scientific approach to end the badger cull and accelerate the development of a cattle vaccine. Despite this encouraging news the Government’s strategy is not urgent enough. Thousands of badgers will be needlessly killed whilst the cull is allowed to continue until new measures are rolled out and take effect.

Dozens of water voles have been released into the wild in Cornwall to help improve a wetland.

The Duchy of Cornwall said it released 80 water voles in the River Fowey at Restormel.

The rodents, which are the fastest-declining mammal in England, were declared extinct in the region in the 1990s, the duchy said.

It said larger and deeper pools created along the River Fowey through a nature programme since 2022 had made an ideal habitat for water voles.

Restoring nature in the UK’s national parks is being held back because nearly 90% of their land remains in the hands of private owners, campaigners say.

The Campaign for National Parks (CNP) has called for the authorities overseeing the protected landscapes to be given more powers to buy up private land under what they call a ‘People’s Charter’ so they can do more to boost biodiversity.

New research estimates that just under 595,000 acres of 5.7m acres of land covered by Britain’s 15 national parks is in public ownership.

Butterfly Conservation has joined more than 100 retailers, compost manufacturers, nursery owners and other conservation charities signing a letter urging Keir Starmer and his cabinet to legislate to end peat sales for good.

It is the first time retailers, charities and the horticultural industry have joined forces to demand a change in legislation.

Coordinated by The Peat-Free Partnership – a coalition of horticultural organisations and environmental NGOs in the UK – the letter includes support from B&Q, the Co-op, major compost manufacturer Evergreen Garden Care and supplier Vitacress – and calls on the new Government to fulfil its legal commitments on climate change and biodiversity.

A country estate has been honoured for its work to make sure curlews don't become extinct in the UK.

Moorland Association member Bolton Castle Estate has won the Upland Curlew Award at the North of England Curlew Conservation Awards, organised by the National Parks and National Landscapes in the north of England for its work in protecting the species.

The awards are presented to farmers and landowners who have contributed to curlew conservation.

The English Channel has become a hotspot for a species of porpoise, a charity has said.

It was feared overfishing had stopped the Channel from sustaining harbour porpoises.

But conservationists from charity ORCA say they are thrilled that animals including whales and dolphins are being spotted in the Channel after decades of many species being scarce in the area.

Ambitious plans to make farming ‘net zero’ by 2040 - 10 years ahead of the UK’s legally-binding national target – may not be achieved, the National Farmers' Union (NFU) has told the BBC.

Reaching net zero means no longer adding to the total amount of greenhouse gases already in the atmosphere. The NFU said a lack of investment in climate-friendly farming measures by the previous government had made doing that by 2040 “tricky” but insisted that the deadline would not be dropped.

Meanwhile, the Soil Association warned that UK agriculture would not be able to reach net zero greenhouse gas emissions “without radical changes".

Farmers can now use Land App to assess hedgerow condition and satisfy new SFI scheme requirements, thanks to collaboration with People’s Trust for Endangered Species

Farmers and land managers across the UK can now use Land App to assess and record the condition of their hedgerows to satisfy the hedgerow assessment action (CHRW1) in the new SFI (Sustainable Farming Initiative) scheme, thanks to a new collaboration between wildlife conservation charity People’s Trust for Endangered Species (PTES) and cloud-based mapping platform Land App.

The SFI hedgerow assessment action is a new approach from the Government and is the first time farmers are paid (currently £5 per 100 metres per side per year) to undertake a hedgerow health-check of this kind. To do this, farmers based in England* can now use the Healthy Hedgerows survey on Land App and Land App Mobile, which is based on PTES’ original survey recommended by Defra as the go-to tool for recording SFI hedgerow actions.

A group of volunteers will honour one of the nation's most beloved nature poets with a project to reclaim habitats and open up corridors of land.

The nature 19th Century poet John Clare grew up in Helpston, Cambridgeshire, which at the time was part of Northamptonshire, and wrote about the loss of the scenery he loved as a child.

The John Clare Countryside Project, led by the Langdyke Countryside Trust, will connect Peterborough to Stamford in Lincolnshire, through green corridors of farmland.

More than 1.9 million trees were planted in 2023 as part of a major project to boost woodland cover across northern England, it has been revealed.

The Northern Forest project will see 50 million trees planted from coast to coast and around cities such as Liverpool, York, Leeds, Manchester, Sheffield and Hull by 2043.

Since 2018, nearly eight million trees have been planted - with the highest number recorded last year, the Woodland Trust said.

Groups involved in a pioneering project to transform a floodplain into a thriving wetland habitat are celebrating the 20th anniversary of the start of their work.

Long Preston Floodplain in is a unique wetland area around parts of the River Ribble between the Yorkshire Dales and Forest of Bowland.

Since 2004, several organisations have worked with farmers in the area on the project, which is ongoing.

Volunteers are being sought for a scheme to introduce wildlife wardens in West Devon.

The project is being launched by West Devon Borough Council on 28 September at the authority's office in Tavistock during an event from 10:30 to 15:00 BST in collaboration with Devon Wildlife Trust.

The council said work would be carried out through the scheme to improve habitats and monitor the borough's ecology with the aim of protecting and increasing wildlife locally.

The Oxford Rivers Portal, a website and map that helps people understand the health of the Thames and its tributaries in Oxfordshire and make informed choices about safer river conditions, has been launched today by environmental charities the Rivers Trust and Thames21 and research institute the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (UKCEH).

The launch of the Oxford Rivers Portal follows increasing public concern over the state of England’s rivers, as well as a growth in interest in wild swimming and watersports.

On a single map, it brings together live raw sewage spill alerts, water quality measurements taken by the Environment Agency and citizen scientists, water levels, flood warnings, bacteria measurements at bathing water sites and sewage treatment rates* at both Oxfordshire’s designated bathing waters, Port Meadow in Oxford and Wallingford Beach. Users can zoom in and click on any of more than 2,000 locations to find out real-time information or data from the past three years.

A rare British bat species has been spotted dangling from a toilet block after a century’s absence from Derbyshire.

The lesser horseshoe bat had not been recorded in the county for more than 100 years before being seen on 14 August.

A Severn Trent ranger at Ladybower Reservoir spotted the winged mammal sheltering under the porch of the toilets at the Heatherdene Car Park.

He photographed the animal, allowing it to now be confirmed by experts at Derbyshire Bat Group as the rare species.

Planting flowers in urban green spaces across Cornwall "significantly boosted numbers" of pollinating insects, new research has showed.

The University of Exeter said it partnered with Cornwall Council and civil engineering firm Cormac to plant flowers, trees and shrubbery across 78 hectares in 15 Cornish towns.

They were planted in places including parks, small green spaces, road verges and closed churchyards.

Scientists at the university said the wildflowers led to a "two-fold increase" in flower visits by certain pollinators, particularly solitary bees and solitary wasps.

A pioneering project to boost golden eagle numbers in southern Scotland is facing the "imminent threat" of being wound down.

The South of Scotland Golden Eagle Project (SSGEP) said it needed to raise £400,000 in order to secure its long-term future.

The scheme has brought the birds from other parts of the country to a secret location near Moffat since it started in August 2018.

However, it has now launched a public appeal for funding to ensure it does not have to fold.

Pupils in UK schools are missing out on regular opportunities to experience nature that have been found to improve mental well-being and attainment, despite the hard work of many passionate teachers.

This is the key finding from a new report published today by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) as children go back to school after the summer holidays.

New research in the Schools for Nature report, conducted by The Education Company, and with input from 1,885 schools across the UK, shows that only 24 per cent of schools provide daily opportunities for pupils to experience nature.

A record number of ospreys have been seen fishing in the Axe Estuary in Seaton, Devon.

East Devon District Council (EDDC) said this caused a huge number of nature lovers to visit to watch the birds of prey diving into the estuary.

It added the estuary was home to grey mullet, a fish which feeds near to the water surface, and was ideal prey for osprey.

Geoff Jung, East Devon District Council’s portfolio holder for coast, countryside and environment, said: "Witnessing spellbinding wildlife encounters such as these is exactly why EDDC has invested in the Seaton Wetlands project.

When environment minister Steve Reed revealed plans to lock up water executives if they do not co-operate on sewage spill investigations, he was hoping to show the new Labour government is ready to finally fix the sewage crisis.

However, he received a backlash from water campaigners, who not only don’t believe any of the executives will see the inside of a prison cell, but also voiced concerns about the lack of policy and investment to actually deal with the UK’s failing sewage infrastructure.

Campaigners told i Mr Reed’s announcement originally included no mention of a root and branch review into the water industry’s failings before it was “hastily added” after pressure from environmental groups ahead of a speech at Thames Rowing Club in Putney on Thursday morning.

Thousands of purple jellyfish have washed up on a beach on the Isles of Scilly.

The 'Mauve Stingers' are fairly uncommon in the UK and are more likely to be found in warmer European waters like the Mediterranean, according to the Wildlife Trust.

While only small, they are capable of a powerful sting and glow brightly at night if disturbed.

Wiltshire Wildlife Trust has been awarded from Natural England's Investment Readiness Fund.

The Trust received £99,081, which will help farmers across the county become investment-ready for green finance.

The funding will allow Wiltshire Wildlife Trust, in partnership with Smart Land Management and Ecology, to assist farmers in developing nature-based projects that could attract private funding.