18 May 2026
Photo by Jacqueline Heron Wray A new study of Scotland’s South Arran Marine Protected Area has found that nearly a decade of protection from bottom trawling and dredging has produced striking ecological recovery, with highly protected seabeds recording around three times the abundance of marine life and twice as many species compared with nearby […]
05 May 2026
Photo by American Public Power Association Natural England has issued a rare public rebuttal of media coverage alleging that it is obstructing construction of Hinkley Point C, calling the claims inaccurate and insisting its environmental advice has been consistent since the project’s original planning consent was granted in 2013. The dispute centres on what […]
28 Apr 2026
Photo by Nick Fewings The UK government must develop a strategic framework for managing competing demands on its coastal and offshore waters, a cross-party parliamentary committee has concluded, warning that fishing communities have lost confidence in the department responsible for supporting them. The Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (EFRA) Committee published its report, Resetting the relationship […]
21 Apr 2026
Photo by Mitili Mitili More than 15 million juvenile oysters are to be released into the North Sea off the coast of Orkney, in one of the largest rewilding projects ever undertaken in UK waters. The scheme, run by the Green Britain Foundation, the Nature Restoration Fund, Marine Fund Scotland and North Bay Innovations, will use […]
14 Apr 2026
Photo by Johannes Heel A pioneering project to deploy floating wetlands in Portsmouth’s coastal waters has been launched by the University of Portsmouth in partnership with Southern Water, the BBC reports, with researchers describing it as a practical, scalable response to the widespread loss of essential coastal ecosystems. The project will see specially designed floating rafts […]
14 Apr 2026
Image description: A puffin with fish in its beak. Photo by Tim Morgan Defra published its updated UK Marine Strategy Part One on 7 April 2026 – the first full update since 2019 and the opening of the strategy’s third six-year implementation cycle. The headline finding is stark: the UK is failing to meet Good Environmental Status in […]
17 Mar 2026
Photo by Soren Funk A year after millions of plastic pellets washed ashore on the coasts of Norfolk and Lincolnshire, clean-up teams are still working – and the full environmental impact on one of Britain’s most protected coastal ecosystems remains unclear. On 10 March 2025, the cargo ship Solong ploughed into the anchored oil tanker […]
03 Mar 2026
Photo by Ekaterina Zlotnikova Scotland’s largest known flame shell bed has made a complete recovery following the designation of a Marine Protected Area in Loch Carron, Wester Ross, a result that researchers and conservationists are hailing as a model for decisive marine protection. Two reports commissioned by NatureScot found that flame shell beds in the […]
