Country Living reports wildlife charities are calling for beavers to be released into rivers across England and Wales – putting an end to enclosures and making the animals officially wild.
Last week, the Wildlife Trusts published A vision for the return of beavers to England and Wales, a report that urges the government to bring the animals back to rivers and asks for “illegal wild populations to be allowed to stay.
BBC News reports baby beavers have been born in urban London for the first time in more than 400 years, a conservation project said.
The family of Eurasian beavers were introduced to a nature reserve in Ealing, west London, in October as part of a project that aims to get the public to engage with nature, to study biodiversity improvements and to monitor flood mitigation effects.
The Independent, Metro, and ITV News report the nocturnal mammal disappeared from the region in the 1880s, but now conservationists are looking at plans to bring them back.
ITV News and The Independent report beavers have been reintroduced to London for the first time in more than 400 years to help restore natural habitat and reduce the risk of flooding in the city.
ITV News reports it’s hoped dormice will spread from their only home in Lancashire to Cumbria this spring. They’re incredibly rare in the UK but a project in Silverdale is connecting woodlands so they can spread to other areas.
BBC News reports the population of hedgehogs in rural Britain is continuing a “steep decline” according to research.
The Guardian, and The Telegraph report conifer plantations, which are being expanded around the UK to combat the climate crisis and foster biodiversity, are in danger of hurting one of the key species they were thought to protect: red squirrels.
I News reports Wildlife Trusts chief Craig Bennett wants to reintroduce the predatory felines – and says they could work wonders for the country’s eco-system and landscape.
The Times reports more than 150,000 deer are to be culled across Scotland over the next five years as part of a multimillion-pound scheme to protect the country’s trees.
The Times reports sightings of humpback whales have soared around the UK in a further sign of the recovery of the species. The Wildlife Trusts have recorded more than 75 sightings off Cornwall since 2019 plus others this year off the Isles of Scilly, Northumberland, Pembrokeshire in Wales, Shetland and in the Firth of Forth.