‘Observe, don’t disturb’ – the warning to staycationers not to disrupt wildlife while on holiday

ITV reports with crowds expected to flock to the coast for a ‘staycation’ this summer, the police and conservation experts are appealing for people to protect the wildlife and environment.

With uncertainly surrounding international holidays growing after Portugal was removed from the travel green list, more people are expected to opt to spend their summer here. It’s prompted police and groups such as the RSPB to ramp up their efforts to protest nesting birds and seals along the region’s coastline.

Andy Bloomfield, a conservation worker at Holkham said that it’s really important that people don’t try and get too close to the terns there as doing so can put the species at risk. 

How the humble hedge works hard to protect Britain’s urban environment

The Conversation reports National Hedgerow Week was created to highlight the immense contribution hedgerows make in the fight against climate change, biodiversity loss and urban air pollution.

With 50% of hedges lost since the second world war due to building development and large scale farming, there has never been a more important time for people to start planting and protecting these high-functioning mini nature reserves in our towns and countryside.

The Climate Change Committee government advisory body says the UK needs to plant 200,000km of new hedgerows if it is to meet its 2050 net zero target.

Healthy hedgerows are essential habitats for biodiversity, supporting over 2,000 species, including the hedgehog and several European protected animals, notably the dormouse, great-crested newt and most species of bat. 

Wild night out: how a nocturnal walk in the woods can reconnect us with nature The point of these night-time wildlife expeditions

THE GUARDIAN reports more than 80% of us live under light-polluted skies but it’s not too late to embrace the darkness.  For most of us, the transition from light to dark is a quiet one, but in the woods on the Dartington estate near Totnes, twilight brings with it a burst of energy.

It is 8.30pm and this is rush hour. There is a cacophony of screeching, snuffles and scuffles, as songbirds return to nests for a night of rest, while nocturnal creatures such as badgers and foxes are taking their first tentative steps out, off to find food and mates under the cloak of darkness.

Rescued donkeys in Devon to help endangered wildflower

The BBC reports rescue donkeys are joining work to save a rare farmland wildflower. About 20,000 small-flowered catchfly seeds have been sown at the Donkey Sanctuary in Devon.

Donkeys photographed at The Donkey Sanctuary, Devon by Dom Atreides under creative commons

The catchfly had disappeared from 70% of its known sites in Britain with the rise of intensive farming and more herbicide use, project managers said. Donkeys would walk over the sown seeds, embedding them, to hopefully boost chances of germination, the sanctuary said. The catchfly’s habitat is in the margins of fields near coasts, and it boasts pinkish-white leaves and sticky hairs.

It was now only found in Wales and south west England, the charity Plantlife, the project’s partner, said.