Environment news

• Thousands watch live stream as rare cactus starts to bloom in UK

  20-02-2021 21:34
  
  Selenicereus wittii bloomed in a live stream from Cambridge University’s Botanic Garden on SaturdayA rare Amazonian cactus called the moonflower has bloomed for what botanists believe is the first time in the UK.Experts at Cambridge University’s Botanic Garden kept a night watch throughout the week so that they did not miss the flowering of Selenicereus wittii – an event which usually begins at sunset and is over by sunrise. Continue reading...
  
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• Calls for vets to be sent to cattle ships stranded at sea since December

  20-02-2021 11:31
  
  Concern mounts for welfare of more than 2,500 livestock on two vessels off Italy and Cyprus after bluetongue outbreakThousands of cattle remain stranded at sea on two livestock ships that left Spain in mid-December, as campaigners desperately seek veterinary support for the animals.The two vessels were bound for Libya but owing to an onboard outbreak of the bovine disease bluetongue were refused entry at multiple ports, said Maria Boada Saña, a vet with Animal Welfare Foundation (AWF), wh
  
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• 'Piecing together a broken heart': Native Americans rebuild territories they lost

  20-02-2021 11:30
  
  Tribes across the US are buying back land lost during and after the colonization period on the open market More than six decades after a 1,705-acre patchwork of meadows, wetlands and timberland in southern Oregon was taken from the Klamath Tribes, the Native American community has found its way back to the territory – by way of the real estate market.Over the summer, the tribes discovered the land was up for sale, so as part of their large-scale effort to reacquire territory that was histo
  
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• ‘Absolutely ridiculous’: top scientist slams UK government over coalmine

  20-02-2021 09:00
  
  Exclusive: Prof Sir Robert Watson says backing of Cumbrian mine refutes claims of climate leadershipOne of the UK’s most eminent environmental scientists has called the government’s failure to block a new coalmine in Cumbria “absolutely ridiculous”.Prof Sir Robert Watson said the UK’s commitment to net zero emissions by 2050 to tackle the climate crisis was “wonderful”, but that there had to be a focus on immediate actions. The UK is hosting a UN climate
  
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• Hearths on fire: UK residents incensed by pollution from wood burners

  20-02-2021 08:00
  
  Neighbours’ disputes become increasingly heated as new data reveals wood burning causes more pollution than trafficIf you’re looking to perfect your rural idyll, you can’t go wrong with a wood burner. A mainstay of glamorous Instagram “cottagecore” accounts and Airbnb listings with a cachet somewhere between an Aga and a yurt, they produce a mood of peace and warmth that glows as softly as their embers.But lately, some of their owners have ascended the temperature s
  
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• Winter storms at sea evoke memories of Daunt Rock rescue

  20-02-2021 07:00
  
  In 1936, villagers in Ballycotton watched their lifeboat save the crew of the lightship Cornet Watching giant waves crash over a harbour wall during a February storm is a reminder of the best human qualities. Imagine launching a boat into such seas to rescue the crew of a stricken ship.When the villagers of Ballycotton in County Cork watched their lifeboat, Mary Stanford, do just that in hurricane-force winds 85 years ago to try to reach the crew of a drifting lightship at the aptly named Daunt
  
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• Country diary: winter has been cruel to Orkney's otters

  20-02-2021 06:30
  
  Stenness, Orkney: One recently turned up on the doorstep of a local hotel, skinny and shiveringIt’s rare for it to snow here in Orkney. But this February, our islands have taken on the appearance of the high Arctic: the smooth, treeless hills are glossy and white, like Italian meringue, and the inland lochs lidded with ice. It’s perfect winter weather. Breath hangs in the still, cold air, and the sky at sunset takes on a luminous quality with bands of rose-gold and amber sinking behi
  
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