28 May 2026

Image description: An outdoor water tap in sharp focus, with a blurred green background. Photo by Luis Tosta on Unsplash   Record heat, record demand  Across the UK’s  hottest May bank holiday on record, temperatures hit 35°C at Heathrow and South East Water in Kent and Sussex found its system pushed beyond capacity. Demand peaked at 670 […]

28 May 2026

Image description: Aerial view on Cogîlnic River river freed from the dams.   A fifth record year  Europe removed a record 603 river barriers in 2025, eclipsing the previous year’s total of 542 by 11%. The combined effort reconnected more than 3,740 km of rivers, marking a fifth consecutive year that removal totals have set a new […]

28 May 2026

Image description: A winding river flows through a forested valley in autumn. The image was taken in Symonds Yat, Ross-on-Wye, UK. Photo by Rob Wingate on Unsplash   A rights of nature approach  The Wye’s whole catchment has been formally acknowledged as a living ecosystem in what supporters call a UK first. Launched at the Hay-on-Wye literary […]

28 May 2026

A wetland area forming peat near Hoo Field, Voe on Mainland, Shetland, UK   £30 million investment across England’s protected landscapes  England’s new Wildlife-Rich Habitat Fund will direct £30 million into restoring and creating habitats across National Parks, National Landscapes and the Broads. The money is split as £10 million a year between 2026 and 2029, and in its […]

26 May 2026

Photo by Low Angle   New legislation came into force on 21 May, reforming the rules governing how offshore wind developers compensate for unavoidable impacts on protected marine sites. The changes, introduced jointly by the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero and the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs, amend the Conservation of Habitats and […]

26 May 2026

Photo by Chris Pagan   The UK is “built for a climate that no longer exists” and faces mounting threats to its coastlines, water supplies and marine ecosystems unless urgent action is taken, according to a landmark government report published last week. The Climate Change Committee (CCC), the government’s independent climate advisory body, released its Fourth Independent […]

26 May 2026

Photo by Woody Wan   Chancellor Rachel Reeves has announced sweeping reforms to protect offshore wind farms, power stations and other critical clean energy projects from legal challenge, in a move that could significantly accelerate the consenting of new marine renewable infrastructure around the UK’s coastline. Under proposals published by HM Treasury on 20 May, Parliament […]

26 May 2026

Photo by hahaxo   Scientists have named 1,121 previously unknown marine species in a single year, the most significant discovery milestone to date for the Nippon Foundation-Nekton Ocean Census, a global effort to map life beneath the waves involving more than 1,000 researchers across 85 countries. The figure represents a 54% increase on the previous year’s annual […]