www.whtimes.co.uk
Great Northern is helping to enhance biodiversity on the railway by working with the Bee Friendly Trust to create 20 ‘homes for nature’ at six stations including in Cuffley and Hadley Wood. The village stations now have two types of bird boxes, an iconic striped bug hotel for small animals and insects, and hibernacula – shelters filled with timber and wood to give small animals and insects a place to live in the winter months. Since the 1970s UK species have declined around 19 per cent on average and nearly one in six species are now threatened with extinction.
www.hillingdontimes.co.uk
AS World Rivers Day approaches, Herts and Middlesex Wildlife Trust is championing the importance of restoring rare chalk river habitats. A celebration of the world’s waterways, the day highlights the many values of our rivers, strives to increase public awareness and encourages improved stewardship of them. This year’s event is on September 22. There are only 260 chalk streams in the world, and Hertfordshire and Middlesex is home to 10% of them.
www.bbc.co.uk
A nature reserve has seen numbers of a rare species of butterfly reach record highs. One count recorded 1,714 silver-studded blue butterflies at Studland and Godlingston Heath in Dorset - the highest since monitoring began. The positive results follow a change in the way the heathland is maintained, according to the National Trust.
www.hulldailymail.co.uk
Humber Forest has planted a quarter of a million tress in the last twelve months, taking their three year total to 400,000 trees planted across East Yorkshire and North Lincolnshire. Funded by Defra (the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs), Humber Forest is one of 15 community forests across the UK established around some of the country's largest towns and cities. Community forests seek to provide a wealth of green space for people to enjoy whilst boosting the area's biodiversity. These trees can play a vital role in reducing soil erosion and flooding, improving air quality, creating habitats for wildlife, and improving community spaces.
www.edp24.co.uk
Some call them heaven hounds, as their distinctive squeals fill the skies at dusk. For others, they herald summer taking wing as autumn closes in on the Norfolk coast. Tens of thousands of geese spend the winter on the Wash as the colder months creep in.
www.iucn-uk-peatlandprogramme.org
The IUCN UK Peatland Programme (IUCN UK PP) publishes a new report today which reveals for the first time that 250,000 hectares (ha) of restoration has been undertaken across the UK’s peatlands since the process began 30 years ago. While this is an impressive achievement to be celebrated, it is a long way short of what is needed to meet the UK’s nature and climate commitments. The scale of damage to the UK’s 3 million hectares of peatlands is vast. The IUCN UK PP’s peatland strategy highlighted that an estimated 80% of UK peatlands have been damaged by drainage, agricultural intensification and unsustainable practices. The current IUCN target to restore 2 million ha by 2040 would mean that two-thirds of UK peatlands could help nature recover and store carbon. However, current estimates show that this target is unlikely to be met. The UK is known for its impressive areas of blanket bog – one type of peatland – including the recently designated UNESCO Flow Country World Heritage Site. It also has a vast network of raised bogs and fens across the UK. These habitats are vital for rare wildlife and to provide drinking water as well as climate and flood mitigation; they are also deeply entwined in the UK’s cultural identity.
www.theguardian.com
A national “butterfly emergency” has been declared by Butterfly Conservation after the lowest Big Butterfly Count since records began. An average of just seven butterflies per 15-minute count were recorded by participants in this summer’s butterfly count, the lowest in the survey’s 14-year history. It was the worst year on record for once-ubiquitous species, including the common blue, small tortoiseshell, small white and green-veined white. Eight out of the 10 most-seen species have declined – in many cases dramatically – over the count’s history. Previous lowest-ever numbers of butterflies-per-count were logged in 2022, 2021 and 2020.
www.bbc.co.uk
Severn Trent has agreed to pay £327,500 to restore a waterway after a sewage spill killed the “vast majority” of its aquatic life. A blocked sewer polluted a 1.7km (1.05m) stretch of Dimore Brook in Quedgeley, Gloucestershire, in August 2021. An investigation by the Environment Agency (EA) found the incident killed hundreds of sticklebacks, several eels and thousands of insects.
www.fwi.co.uk
Farmers and landowners in Higher Tier agri-environment schemes are facing uncertainty as they lack a clear pathway into the newer Environmental Land Management (ELM) schemes. The NFU is calling on Defra to give farmers in existing Higher Tier schemes access to equal payments for options delivering the same outcomes in other ELM schemes, such as the Sustainable Farming Incentive and Countryside Stewardship (CS). Many farmers with Higher Tier stewardship agreements ending this year – and many others on annual rollovers on historic payments – have been left unable to apply for a newer Higher Tier ELM scheme because it hasn’t been made available.
Plans have been unveiled to reintroduce White-tailed Eagle to Cumbria. White-tailed Eagle was once found across Cumbria, with the last recorded breeding attempt near Haweswater in 1787. Now, the Cumbrian White-tailed Eagle Project has been exploring the possibility of bringing the species back to the county. The raptor has been successfully reintroduced to Scotland and the Isle of Wight, as well as to Ireland. There are now breeding populations across Scotland and Ireland, while in 2023 a White-tailed Eagle chick was born in southern England for the first time in 243 years.
www.eadt.co.uk
A Suffolk wildlife and conservation charity has called for "greater transparency" from Sizewell C in relation to its wildlife compensation schemes. Earlier in September, developers of the new Sizewell C nuclear power station announced a new partnership with the nature restoration movement WildEast to promote the return of land to nature across the region. In announcing the partnership, Sizewell C flagged up how it had pledged to return a large part of the land to nature during the construction of the new power station.
www.dailyrecord.co.uk
One of the most ambitious peatland restoration projects ever consented to a developer in the UK is now complete on the outskirts of East Kilbride. ScottishPower Renewables' £1.4 million project marks a significant milestone in valuable habitat conservation and climate change mitigation at Whitelee Windfarm in Eaglesham, bringing SPRs investment in peatland restoration to £4million to date. Degraded peatlands release harmful greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, accounting for around 15 per cent of Scotland’s emissions, but healthy peatlands store carbon and have a net cooling effect on the climate, so they’re critical to mitigating the effects of climate change.
www.bbc.co.uk
Draught horses are being put to work in south-west London as part of a council's bid to "enhance" its grasslands. The horses are pulling mowers and harrows - heavy frames with teeth or tines that are dragged over land to stir the soil - in Wandsworth Park and King George’s Park to create wildflower meadows. Wandsworth Council said the traditional method allowed horses’ hooves to create small gaps in the grass, helping wildflower seeds to take root more effectively.
www.independent.co.uk
Beavers have been born in Hampshire for the first time in 400 years. The two baby beavers, known as kits, were first spotted in early July in an enclosure on the Ewhurst Park estate near Basingstoke, its team announced on Tuesday. The kits have since been captured on camera, swimming, splashing and gnawing on bark.
theecologist.org
The British Government is being urged to “boldly commit” to rewilding 30 per cent of land and seas by 2030, as polling shows high levels of support for the approach. Charity Rewilding Britain is also urging the new Labour Government to expand nature-based jobs and businesses, boost access to nature for people to benefit health and well-being, empower communities to lead the way with rewilding, and create a “game-changing” shift in rewilding funding and investment. The call comes on the back of polling of more than 2,200 people by YouGov for Rewilding Britain which suggests that more than 83 per cent of people support rewilding, a slight increase on 81 per cent in polling in 2021.
www.bbc.co.uk
A project to increase the number of plover birds has been hailed a success. The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) said chick numbers had increased after efforts by volunteers to keep visitors and dogs away from coastal nests at Snettisham, Norfolk. The ringed plover, with its black eye mask and distinctive orange and black-tipped bills, were red-listed by the bird charity, after their breeding populations suffered declines of greater than 50%. Three years ago, 40 pairs of birds fledged 19 chicks, rising to 71 this year after funding from the Borough Council of King's Lynn and West Norfolk, and nature reserve Wild Ken Hill.
www.theguardian.com
Public outrage over river pollution has been heartening to see. Over the past few years, stories about sewage contamination in rivers have captured public attention, and prompted campaigns and protests, such as the forthcoming River Action UK march for clean water on 26 October in London. It is important to protect our rivers because they are biodiversity hotspots and essential for human health. However, as a freshwater ecologist, I know there is more nuance to the story than you may have been led to believe. From my perspective, there is some good news when it comes to our rivers. I would even say that some rivers in England are in the best state they have been in for hundreds of years. Many rivers in England are polluted, but we need to recognise that this is not an emerging issue but a much longer-standing one that has been largely ignored by the media and politicians for decades. Much of the recent furore over pollution has to do with increased awareness, rather than a sudden increase in pollution itself. It’s only by understanding how these ecosystems have changed over time and reflecting on previous successes that we can make real progress.
www.dailyecho.co.uk
Dolphins gliding across the water of a Hampshire beach have been captured on camera by a stunned passer-by. Sarah Coulson was walking along the beach at Barton-on-Sea this morning when movement in the sea caught her eye. A pod of dolphins was spotted swimming in the sunshine. She immediately stopped to take a video, zooming in to watch the dolphins appear above the surface of the sea, before disappearing again.
www.edp24.co.uk
From photographs of a majestic kingfisher playing in the rain to a water vole enjoying a salad lunch, the winners of an annual nature photography competition have been revealed. Norfolk Wildlife Trust (NWT) announced the winners of its 2024 nature photography competition, which saw more than 600 entries. The photographs beautifully captured various species found in Norfolk with Stuart Merchant's photograph of two emperor dragonflies being declared the overall winner.
www.bbc.co.uk
Cattle egret birds have nested at a wetland site in West Sussex for the first time. Three nests, all with hatched, active chicks, have been spotted at WWT Arundel Wetland Centre. The birds were uncovered by reserve manager Suzi Lanaway after she heard the noise of chicks last week.
UK Nature and Environment
UK Nature and Environment Autumn banner competition - voting thread
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UK Nature and Environment
UK Nature and Environment Autumn banner competition - voting thread
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UK Nature and Environment
UK Nature and Environment Autumn banner competition - voting thread
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UK Nature and Environment
UK Nature and Environment Autumn banner competition - voting thread
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UK Nature and Environment
UK Nature and Environment Autumn banner competition - voting thread
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Not as many submissions this time as for the summer banner competition, so I am including a couple of my own as well. So, please upvote your favourite from the comments below. The winner will be the one with the most votes by 10:00pm (BST) on Sunday 22nd. In the event of a tie, I will flip a coin or similar.
www.bbc.co.uk
The number of rare bats in a Devon town has "plummeted", a bat-observing group has said. Be Buckfastleigh, a community interest group, said the decline of greater horseshoe bats in the town was "alarming". Director and resident Pam Barrett has been observing the protected species for about 10 years and said her group would normally expect to see around a thousand bats at this time of year. However she said earlier this year they had counted "as few as 20" greater horseshoe bats in Buckfastleigh.
www.yorkpress.co.uk
A new project that aims to deepen people’s connection to nature and increase awareness of climate change has been awarded £1.1 million from The National Lottery Community Fund. Over the next five years, and thanks to the support of National Lottery players, River Esk Connect (REConnect) will see schools, community groups, and volunteers take part in learning days and conservation activities including wildlife surveys, invasive species control, river monitoring and hedge laying. The project aims to inspire people to take the lead with environmental activities in their own communities, ensuring the River Esk and surrounding area grows as a nature-rich landscape that is protected for future generations. REConnect is led by a group of organisations including the North York Moors National Park Authority, Yorkshire Wildlife Trust, Groundwork, and the Yorkshire Marine Nature Partnership, bringing together experts in climate, ecology and community action.
www.shropshirestar.com
The Severn Valley Water Management Scheme ‘demonstrator project’ is managed by Shropshire Council through the River Severn Partnership and has its focus on the Rea Brook, which flows into the River Severn in Shrewsbury. It aims to provide a suite of nature-based flood management schemes that will demonstrate different measures that can both hold back water and also enhance habitat and biodiversity.
www.northwaleschronicle.co.uk
A breeding programme is set to boost a critically endangered species. About 120 young freshwater pearl mussels are being released into a Gwynedd river to help the species. The mussels were raised at Natural Resources Wales’s (NRW) captive-rearing facility near Brecon. They will be released into the river following extensive habitat restoration works in 2022.
www.walesonline.co.uk
When you think of rainforests your mind likely jumps to the forests of Borneo or the Amazon. What you may not realise is that there are incredible rainforests right here in Wales. These temperate rainforests create a habitat which is globally rare, and considered to be more threatened than tropical rainforest.
www.bbc.co.uk
Thousands of wildflowers are being planted in the Lake District as part of efforts to restore traditional hay meadows. More than 5,500 are being plug planted during September at Boon Crag Farm on the shores of Coniston. Once established, they will provide habitat for wildlife including bees and butterflies, as well as providing benefits to grazing livestock, the National Trust (NT) said.
www.bbc.co.uk
Time-honoured techniques are bringing nature back to life in Kent. Scotney Castle, near Lamberhurst, is owned by the National Trust and has started using horses for mowing duties to help grow wildflower meadows on the estate. The Oakwood Clydesdale horses - called Percy and Frank – are used as they cause less damage to the soil and wildlife when clearing vegetation compared to modern machines, the trust said. They are also more environmentally friendly than heavy machinery since they do not need fossil fuels, it adds.
The rare and illusive One-flowered Wintergreen Moneses uniflora, a small flowering plant found in pine woodlands, has defied expectations of Plantlife Scotland and partners in the UK’s first ever project to restore the species. One-flowered Wintergreen has seen a 70% survival success rate following a translocation (movement of a species from one location to another) from a secure population of the species in Roseisle Forest and Old Grantown Wood to RSPB Abernethy, led by Plantlife Scotland. The flower has suffered a sharp decline globally and it is estimated that in the last 50 years over half of the UK population has been lost, with only two known remaining patches in the Cairngorms National Park and as few as just seven populations in the whole country.
www.wildlifebcn.org
More than 100 water voles have been released at the Nene Wetlands Nature Reserve as part of ambitious plans to restore the species to Northamptonshire. Last week 116 water voles bred in captivity were released to the nature reserve and more will follow next year. The release was funded and licensed by Natural England as part of its Species Recovery Programme. Find out more about the funding in this blog Species Recovery Programme Capital Grant Scheme awards – Natural England (blog.gov.uk). Water voles in Northamptonshire are now restricted to a few isolated colonies. The last records for the area around Nene Wetlands Nature Reserve are from around the year 2000. The Wildlife Trust has been working with partners in the county including Stanwick Lakes country park and Water Resources East to create the right conditions for water voles return. It is hoped that this project will be the start of a meta population of water voles which can then expand across Northamptonshire.
A record total of 55 pairs of Chough attempted to breed in Cornwall this year. The red-billed corvid began to recolonise Cornwall in 2001 after 28 years of absence from the county. The 2024 breeding season was the best yet, with a record number of breeding pairs and a total of 108 young known to have successfully fledged. This follows an expansion in the range of Chough in Cornwall, with birds now readily found in inland areas.
www.chroniclelive.co.uk
This year’s breeding season for endangered hen harriers at an upland nature reserve has been the most successful for 30 years. RSPB staff and volunteers worked around the clock at the Geltsdale reserve on the border of Northumberland and Cumbria to monitor the nests. Teams worked in shifts, concealing themselves a safe distance away and watching the nests with thermal binoculars at night to ensure the birds were not disturbed. Eight hen harrier chicks have fledged at the RSPB nature reserve this year. Two pairs of hen harriers each produced four chicks. One of the pairs, including a satellite-tagged female, also bred in 2023.
UK Nature and Environment
UK Nature and Environment autumn banner competition - submissions thread
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Thanks for this one - an atmospheric landscape!
www.bbc.co.uk
A group of UK marine biologists are visiting Alderney for a research trip, to improve the island's ecological records. Twenty-seven members from the Porcupine Marine Natural History Society (PMNHS), arrived on the island on September 12, for a one week stay supported by the Alderney Wildlife Trust. The marine environment in Alderney is still largely unrecorded, and the field trip will investigate under-recorded marine habitats and species, through a variety of methods including diving.
www.bbc.co.uk
A wildlife trust hopes a giant wasp nest found in a house could help people better understand the insect. The impressive structure, measuring an estimated 75cm (30in) across, was donated to the Wildlife Trust for Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire by a pest controller, who was called to remove it from an attic. Now situated in the entrance to the trust's office in Cambourne, Cambridgeshire, the nest has gained attention and also highlighted that wasps are skilled architects.
www.bbc.co.uk
Waterways managers are working to stop another pollution incident in stretch of a canal where thousands of litres of cyanide were leaked last month. About 4,000 litres (879 gallons) of sodium cyanide and other chemicals spilled into the canal in Walsall on 12 August, closing a 12-mile stretch of the waterway. Walsall Council said aeration of the canal to deal with the problem had since been successful. "[But] the next step is, what’s the pollution level like in all the sediment that lies at the bottom of the canal," said Henriette Breukelaar, from the Canal and River Trust.
www.bbc.co.uk
"Failed" efforts to tackle sewage pollution mean Wales' water watchdog should be stripped of its role regulating the industry, Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey has said. The water industry in Wales is covered by Welsh government agency Natural Resources Wales (NRW), the environmental regulator and Ofwat, the economic regulator. Sir Ed said a "different system" should be drawn up to create a "more powerful" regulator.
www.theguardian.com
What do you think of when you think of a national park? Is it a wide area of glorious natural beauty, where wildlife runs free under the protection of the state? Or is it a wide area mostly farmed by private landowners, in which nature is faring worse than outside its boundaries, and largely off-limits to the public? In England, the reality is the latter, and this matters. The country is one of the most nature-depleted nations in the world, in the bottom 10% of nations for biodiversity. “Nature is in freefall in our national parks,” says Dr Rose O’Neill, the chief executive of the Campaign for National Parks (CNP). Wildlife is wonderful for its own sake, but its loss also damages its near-magical ability to boost people’s wellbeing, as well as natural flood defences, pollination and more. Restoring nature is also critical to fighting the climate emergency, soaking up carbon in new trees and rewetted peatlands.
www.thecrownestate.co.uk
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.
www.derbyshirewildlifetrust.org.uk
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.
www.wildlifetrusts.org
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.
UK Nature and Environment
UK Nature and Environment autumn banner competition - submissions thread
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Thanks for these. Very autumnal!
UK Nature and Environment
South of Scotland golden eagle project faces funding threat
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You'll have take it up with the South of Scotland Golden Eagle Project then.
Asklemmy
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I've had the same number for 24 years now. I have only ever had a handful of spam calls in total over that time.
I probably get one a month or so on my work number.
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Basically all of them.
A quick skim shows me that the only people who have called me this so far this year are:
- Doctor
- Dentist
- Sister
- Wife
- Close friend
I expect that this would be much the same for last year too.
I have no reason not to speak to any of these.
UK Nature and Environment
UK Nature and Environment autumn banner competition - submissions thread
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Some great shots here - thanks for submitting!
UK Nature and Environment
The Truth Behind Commercial Haggis Farming
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More appropriate to early April than early September, I think, but I'll allow this one.
No Stupid Questions
Has there been a depiction of fast food on a space station?
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Doctor who (2005) s01e07 - Kronkburgers on Satellite 5 in the opening scenes.
Ask UK
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UK Nature and Environment
New Somerset forest will see 100,000 trees established and landscaped transformed
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Looks like it:
with most of our woodlands, we will be hosting year-round volunteering and community events, enabling people to enjoy, learn about, and connect with nature," Tom shares. These events will offer opportunities for people to get involved in the project, whether through tree planting, wildlife monitoring, or participating in educational programs.
movies
[Discussion] Of all the films you’ve gone into blind, which one truly stands out as your favorite find?
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Excluding pretty much everything that I saw as a kid - when you go into basically everything blind - it would be After Hours (1985). I either hadn't read anything about it or hadn't been paying attention. Standing outside the cinema, I just saw that it was by Scorsese and went in.
I still think that it is one of his most under-appreciated films. And I loved the Ted Lasso homage, combining it with the Divine Comedy.
UK Nature and Environment
This bird came back from extinction - now scientists in an aircraft are teaching it to migrate
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This isn't related to the UK, so doesn't really fit in this community: UK Nature and Environment.
UK Nature and Environment
Cyanide levels in Walsall canal improve following toxic spill
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As the article about the donations, linked to within this article, says:
"Of course, the company responsible should pay, but the timing and outcome of the investigation by the Environment Agency (EA) is uncertain, and we must act now to protect nature as best we can."
UK Nature and Environment
‘Beaver-bombing’: unauthorised rodent releases on the rise in English rivers
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I was at a long-term beaver reintroduction site earlier this year. It is official, well managed and has been going for a couple of decades or more now. This topic came up and I got the impression that they had a pretty good idea who had released some unofficially at at least one other spot in the area.
Although well managed, the fences at this site - as any other - do get damaged from time to time and there are 'escapes'. But there are a good number of people who have been involved in the project over the years and a lot of them have very different views to the government on how releases should be handled. I think that some of the accidental 'escapes' had assistance - and transport.
UK Nature and Environment
Seagull species in serious decline, say experts
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They certainly are moving to the cities, but the studies - at least the ones that I have seen details of - have included that. They are still in decline overall.
Casual Conversation
It's Friday - What are your plans for the week-end?
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This evening: pizza and a film - Breaking Away (1979)
Tomorrow - gardening, then off to a medieval feast at a local museum
Sunday - probably out for a hike somewhere, then a waterway bat survey in the evening
UK Nature and Environment
Five species added to British bird list
Ask Lemmy
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Safety Not Guaranteed (2012) - Aubrey Plaza in an engaging character piece that has hints of Eagle vs Shark among others. It's not outstanding by any means and not among Plaza's best, but still witty and touching.
UK Nature and Environment
Mature trees offer hope in world of rising emissions
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The relevant section of this item is:
Previous experiments have shown that younger trees are able to increase their rates of CO2 absorption, but the assumption has been that more mature forests do not have the same adaptability.
Prof MacKenzie told the BBC it was important for the team to understand how older trees behave as that is the majority of the tree cover we have globally.
UK Nature and Environment
I went looking for wild Bison in exotic Kent. Here's what I learned
UK Nature and Environment
Study shows biodiversity benefits of better-managed landscapes
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There is plenty of scope for small-scale improvements - and they can be very effective. I don't have any data to hand on exactly what would be the most effective per sq meter or anything like that, but I wouldn't mind betting that planting flowering plants that act as a food source for insects and are in flower for as much of the year as possible would be near the top. This can be done at any scale - from pots on a balcony to a full-blown wildflower meadow instead of a lawn.[
UK Nature and Environment
Kent: Butterfly 'extinct' for 60 years now breeding in woodland
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Yes, but this is in a specific nature reserve. Good conservation management for wildlife in reserves has been shown time and again to work extremely well - and can counteract declines due to poor weather and even climate change to some extent - in those specific areas.
However, there are nowhere near enough nature reserves around to counteract the overall decline nationally or internationally. If we just stick with what we have, they will at best become 'wildlife ghettos'. Rewilding much, much larger areas might go someway towards reversing declines, but it's clear that we need to deal with climate change too.
UK Nature and Environment
Call to help Lancashire hedgehogs after population plummets
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Yes, and not only hedgehogs. At my workplace a couple of days ago there was a brown long-eared bat which had unfortunately drowned in a smooth dog-bowl, probably whilst trying to get a drink in the hot weather. We are now making sure that there is a stone kept in the bowl so that any wildlife can get out of the water.
UK Nature and Environment
First move in No Win No Fee action against River Wye pollution
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Yes, I was in two minds about posting it for this reason, but decided to in the end because of that.
UK Nature and Environment
UHI North set to launch new peatland restoration training class
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I used to use Connect - moved to Voyager, which I found to have more useful features, but still have it on my phone. I have just taken a look and Connect shows me the name of the server as well as the community - so I don't know if that is an option somewhere in the settings.
However, yes, I am aware that the name of the community does appear simply as 'nature' in some cases. There isn't much I can do about that, as I didn't set it up.
Still, my original comments stand. The idea that I and everyone else should specify that each story is related to the UK - in a community that is specific to the UK - and would need to editorialise titles and content to do so (which would definitely draw negative comments) is unreasonable. And would that be sufficient for everyone? There are certainly people, for example, who are confused by entities like the UK, England, Great Britain etc and are not aware of how they relate to each other.
I usually browse by subscribed, but if I should choose to browse by all then there are always a scattering of stories that I know nothing about. I wouldn't expect that every one of those should include a wiki guide to the subject in question. I would expect that I would need to look it up myself.
UK Nature and Environment
UHI North set to launch new peatland restoration training class
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Well, it is posted in the UK Nature and Environment community on Feddit UK. I don't know what you are using to browse with, but everything that I have used on mobile or laptop shows me which community an item is posted in at the very least, so that it was in the UK should have been reasonably clear, I would have thought.
UK Nature and Environment
UHI North set to launch new peatland restoration training class
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The following is not a criticism of you or anyone else - we all started somewhere, and I would always encourage learning. However, a couple of points to consider:
it takes TO 5 seconds
I think a little longer than 5 secs to find a suitable link, copy that link and format it for Lemmy, and then make it clear that this was not part of the original story, but the main point is that virtually every link that I post to this community mentions some area of the UK. Is it realistic that I (and others) should then either embed a link to info for each one of those locations, or separately write some summary info on each one? If not every one, then where would one draw the line? Caithness in this case, but Cumbria, Dorset, Kinder Scout and Montrose Basin have each featured in recent items that I have posted - and hundreds of other places before them. Which should I expect a significant number of people who are interested enough to be following stories in the UK Nature and Environment community not to have heard of?
And much the same is true of peat. Inevitably, any related story could be the first time that someone somewhere will have heard of peat, but it is not exactly a niche subject: it has been in the headlines for both wildlife and climate change in the UK and elsewhere for a good few years now (decades, at least, in relation to wildlife) and it seems reasonable to expect that the vast majority of readers of items in the UK Nature and Environment community will be aware of peatland. And if I do include a link to more info on that, should I also do so for other habitats in other links? Chalk streams? Lowland Heath? Woodland? Meadows? Again, how could I realistically draw the line?
UK Nature and Environment
UHI North set to launch new peatland restoration training class
GreyShuck
2 months ago
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Caithness - county in the Scottish highlands including the most northerly mainland point in the UK.
UK Nature and Environment
£1.2bn plan to turn sewage waste into drinking water branded a ‘white elephant’
GreyShuck
2 months ago
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From the article:
Bob Comlay, who runs the Havant Matters website, which details community concerns, and who is also vice-chair of the Solent Protection Society, said construction work to build the plant on the former landfill site risked contaminating groundwater which would flow into the Solent. There are also concerns about the environmental impact on the marine ecology of rejected contaminated water discharged into the sea.
He said a Thames Water desalination plant which used the same technology had been mostly inactive since it was opened. “This is a vanity project,” he said. “It will be a white elephant.”
Movies
GreyShuck
2 months ago
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Way back in the day it used to be Cinema City in Norwich: the only art-house one in the city and where I 'learnt' cinema. It was great.
These days, I live between three small town cinemas in Suffolk, and they are all good in their own ways.
The Riverside in Woodbridge often has a talk about the film or maybe even an interview with the director or one of the cast etc on stage afterwards. Aldeburgh Cinema is run by a charity, shows a good few NT live events and local films and also has a documentary fest each year, and Leiston Film Theatre is, as they say on their site, the oldest purpose built cinema in the county (110 years now), and had the advantage for a while of being about 150m from our back gate. It is the most commercial of three in terms of programme, but still has some interesting stuff.
Trailers for movies, television and games
Time Bandits (2024, showrunners Jemaine Clement and Iain Morris)
GreyShuck
2 months ago
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He has been involved to the extent of commenting on the "shortage of dwarves", but otherwise seemed fairly supportive IIRC.
I am torn. One the one hand I automatically expect it not to be a patch on the original, but on the other, there are several people involved who I enjoy, and I must say that the trailer does seem to have hit the right notes.
I am definitely going to give it a try.
UK Nature and Environment
Norfolk Wildlife Trust looks at the ancient art of scything
GreyShuck
2 months ago
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It was one of the first conservation tasks that I ever did - also in Norfolk, as it happens.
There is a knack to it and there certainly are safety considerations - especially around sharpening them - but you really have to be doing something profoundly wrong to get anywhere near your own ankles.
It is very satisfying once you get the hang of it though.
UK Politics
UK General Election voting megathread
GreyShuck
3 months ago
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The tories have been incumbent for 116 years in my neck of the woods (the previous one was a whig). The surveys say that is likely to end this time. I am sooo looking forward to that.
UK Nature and Environment
'Homes for Nature': Housebuilders promise bird-nesting bricks and hedgehog highways in new homes
GreyShuck
3 months ago
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An interesting point, but I don't think that is as clear cut as you suggest.
The article mentions swift boxes, for example. Swifts, of course, return to the same nests each year anyway. There is a specific parasitic louse that is present in most swift nests, as I understand - but they appear to tolerate the parasitic load regardless.
Bats, on the other hand, reduce parasite buildup by moving from one roost to another across the year - but they will reuse the same roosts and hibernaculae in subsequent years.
I'm not sure exactly what they mean by insect bricks either, but assuming that it something like bee hotels, well, I am not very familiar with these overall, but having watched the red mason bees on the south side of my home for the last couple of years, they certainly seem to be using the same holes more than once.
The critical thing, overall, will be whether they use designs that have been developed by organisations who have done their research - of which are many available, that they have trying to get the building industry to use for a good while now - rather than simply greenwashing gimmicks.
UK Nature and Environment
A bee orchid spotted in my front garden
GreyShuck
3 months ago
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They are extraordinary aren't they? Really lucky to have them in your garden.