08 Aug 2019

Extreme rainfall (82 mm in 24 hours 30th July) in the Yorkshire Dales  lead to major damage to rural infrastructure  John Curtin ‘Incredible hydrograph for Swale at Grinton Bridge – 2.5m rise in just a few minutes (note this is raw data).’ pic.twitter.com/UlTj4BTyIx A month’s rainfall in a few hours – how often have we […]

08 Aug 2019

Met office climate report 2018 The Met Office have published their annual State of the UK Climate report for 2018. Some of its key findings are: Nine of the 10 warmest years for the UK have occurred since 2002 and all the top 10 warmest years have occurred since 1990. The most recent decade (2008–2017) […]

08 Aug 2019

Defra: Theresa Villiers:   ‘The Environment Secretary’s speech at Countryfile Live which took place at Blenheim Palace on Thursday 1 August 2019. ‘It is just over a week since the Prime Minister asked me to take on the role of Secretary of State at Defra.  And I am delighted to be making my first speech here […]

06 Aug 2019

Dynamic Dunescapes is a fantastic new project to restore sand dunes across England and Wales for the benefit of people, communities and wildlife.  Picnics in a sheltered hollow, hide and seek… sand dunes are a familiar and natural playground. Less well known is their role as a sanctuary for endangered plants and animals like the […]

06 Aug 2019

Bob Earll  ‘The Government have been quick to remind us (again) with a great fanfare that the plastic bag tax works. All it does is remind me how little progress they have made with all the other obvious single use plastics which seemed to be stuck in an endless round of announcements and consultations. The […]

06 Aug 2019

Chris Williams, New Economics Foundation The UK Fisheries White Paper makes extensive mention of the need to favour low-impact fisheries, but these are not defined and therefore this ambition cannot be met without having objective, transparent and measurable criteria. Without a definition of low-impact fishing , the bold statements in the Fisheries White Paper and […]

06 Aug 2019

“Messaging matters: A systematic review of the conservation messaging literature”: Changing human behaviour and attitudes are key to conserving global biodiversity. Despite evidence from other disciplines that strategic messaging can influence behaviour and attitudes, it remains unclear how to best design messages to benefit biodiversity. We conducted a systematic literature review to investigate the status […]

06 Aug 2019

Non lethal seal deterents MMO Stakeholder report on non-lethal seal deterrents MMO stakeholder report published on non-lethal deterrents suitable for control of seals from fishing vessels (MMO1131).  Interactions between seals and fishing gear include depredation of fish catches by seals and bycatch of seals in fishing gear. Throughout England, depredation is an issue for static […]