UK to trial ‘highly protected marine areas’ in win for ocean campaigners

The Guardian reports the UK government has announced plans to increase protection of wildlife and habitats by banning fishing and other damaging activities from a handful of selected marine sites off the coast of England.

The pilot scheme of at least five highly protected marine areas (HPMAs), announced by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, was welcomed by the Wildlife Trusts as a “historic” move that would allow degraded underwater habitats to recover and set a new standard for marine protection. 

Kittiwakes are dying out due to climate change and overfishing, RSPB warns

ITV News reports climate change and overfishing are threatening England’s native seabirds – the kittiwakes. Their numbers have halved since the 1960s. The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) is warning about the devastating impact of humans on England’s native Kittiwake.

Its message coincides with World Oceans Day. Dr Euan Dunn, from the RSPB said: “The sea is warming dramatically around us and that is unravelling the food web, particularly hitting sand eels, the staple diet of kittiwakes, very dependent on this small shoaling fish.” 

‘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.

Half of our badgers could be killed before 2026 if Government does not stop wiping them out before culling programme officially ends, campaigners warn

Badger photo by Sally Langstaff under creative commons

The Daily Mail reports more than half of England’s badgers will be killed if the Government does not stop culling before the programme’s official end in 2026, campaign groups warned last night.

The Government confirmed yesterday that it will not issue new licences for culling badgers to tackle tuberculosis in cattle after 2022. Culling will eventually cease entirely when licences expire in 2026.

Since the controversial badger cull started in 2013, to control bovine tuberculosis, more than 140,000 badgers have been shot.

Count bug splats on cars to study insect decline, UK drivers urged

The Guardian, and iNNewsreport a new app that tracks bug splats on car number plates will enable UK citizen scientists to help shed light on the worrying decline of insects.

Older drivers will remember scrubbing large numbers of splatted insects from windscreens after journeys in past decades. But a 2019 study that analysed car registration plates after trips in Kent found a 50% fall in splatted bugs compared with 2004.

The charity Buglife has now launched the free Bugs Matter app to enable people to collect valuable data. Users start by cleaning their number plate before a journey, which is then tracked by the app to collect location and time data.

Community group saves wildlife-rich rare chalk grassland by buying it

Pewley Down

iNEWS reports a community group has saved wildlife-rich rare chalk grassland in the North Downs – home to nesting skylarks, orchids and wild thyme – by buying it.

Residents sprang into action when the 37.5-acre Pewley Down Fields in Guildford, Surrey, went up for sale. They quickly put a bid together and with the help of Surrey Wildlife Trust a new nature reserve will now be created to preserve the land in perpetuity for future generations. 

Ministers accused of hypocrisy over ‘toothless’ environment bill

The Guardian reports Ministers have been accused of hypocrisy in bringing forward a “toothless” environment bill that will fail to protect against developers concreting over valuable green space, lack provisions for improving air quality, and contain what campaigners said were inadequate protections for wildlife.

The government voted down amendments to its flagship environment bill on Wednesday that would have strengthened the powers of a watchdog, given local communities more say over planning and development, and expanded protections for habitats.