The Office for Environmental Protection is investigating the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) Secretary of State (SoS) and Natural England over possible failures to comply with environmental law in relation to Special Protection Areas (SPAs) for wild birds, it has announced. The investigation will seek to determine whether Defra SoS and Natural […]
A Devon nature reserve is due to be significantly expanded thanks to a unique piece of coastal engineering, which has seen 50 hectares of internationally important new wetland habitat created. The huge climate change adaptation project led by the Environment Agency reconnected the River Otter with its historic estuarine floodplain – helping protect properties but […]
English seabird populations are in decline. Breeding populations have declined by at least 20-30% since the early 1990s and without intervention these internationally important seabird populations will continue to decline. The same can be said across the UK: the latest figures from the Seabirds Count (2015-2021) shows almost 62% of seabird species in decline across the UK […]
The Seabed User & Developer Group (SUDG), an informal grouping of the UK’s key marine industries, have called on the UK government to put in place a moratorium on the biodiversity metric for intertidal habitats. Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) is a policy set out in the Environment Act 2021 and on 12 February 2024 it […]
Six new landscape-scale nature recovery projects are launched by Natural England and the UK Government. The multi-partnership collaborative projects covering 176,000 hectares of land across England – from the Tees Estuary to the South Downs – will create improved and better-connected habitats for wildlife and improve public access to nature. The projects will strengthen the […]
The River Wye’s health status has been downgraded by Natural England, as wildlife charities accuse the government of failing to stop farming pollution harming the waterway. The government nature watchdog has updated the status of the river from “unfavourable-improving” to “unfavourable-declining”, meaning its condition is poor – and worsening. The assessment shows the river, which […]
The future of the Calstock wetlands is assured for the next 20 years as Natural England has granted a Countryside Stewardship to the Tamar Community Trust (TCT). The move comes as a scheme led by the Environment Agency to reconnect the River Tamar with its original floodplain at Calstock has finished and the land leased, […]
By Mike Burke, Programme Director – Sustainable Development Nutrient pollution is an urgent problem for freshwater habitats and estuaries which provide a vital home to many species including wetland birds, fish, and insects. Increased levels of nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus can disrupt natural processes and harm wildlife. We know that nature is fundamental […]