Environment news

• Fast-spreading wildfire kills at least 12 in southern Spain

  10-07-2026 19:06
  Twenty-three people missing and four Britons thought to be among those who died trying to flee Almería blaze‘I had an incredible escape’: British woman tells of close encounter with wildfireAt least 12 people have been killed and 23 are unaccounted for after one of Spain’s deadliest wildfires broke out in the south-eastern province of Almería as the country endures its second heatwave of the summer.The regional government of Andalucía said the victims, four
  
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• ‘I had an incredible escape’: British woman tells of close encounter with Spanish wildfire

  10-07-2026 16:25
  Jeanne Henny, 74, put her friend, a wheelchair and two dogs into the car and drove away, only to meet fire surging on to the roadThe speed, scale and ferocity of the wildfire in and around the Bédar municipality of Almería took everyone by surprise.Jeanne Henny, an English woman who has had a house in the tiny hamlet of Los Pinos for 33 years, initially took Thursday afternoon’s yellow skies as proof that a calima wind from the Sahara was showering desert dust on the area. Th
  
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• Pacific gray whales facing ‘catastrophic’ die-off as climate crisis hits food supply

  10-07-2026 15:00
  Trump administration urged to relist a species in ‘very, very serious trouble’under Endangered Species ActClimate change is driving a gray whale “catastrophic mortality event” in the Pacific Ocean as melting sea ice depletes food sources and the animals starve, environmental groups warn.Meanwhile, a range of other issues, like ship strikes, oil spills, microplastic pollution, algal blooms and Russian harvesting are also probably contributing to the die-off that has nearly
  
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• We know how to mourn other humans – but what about ecological grief?

  10-07-2026 13:00
  In Iceland, people commemorated its first glacier formally declared lost to climate change. Western culture needs more of these ritualsI remember interviewing a North Atlantic right whale expert years ago. He was a practical, science-minded man. But as we discussed a female whale that had lost her calf, he became visibly emotional. She had lost the previous one, too, struck by a ship. He seemed almost embarrassed by the depth of his feeling.I wasn’t surprised. I found his grief honorable.
  
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• Shovels for feet and blotting paper skin: the ‘little fat froggy’ facing a fight for survival

  10-07-2026 11:00
  The desert rain frog, native to a narrow coastal strip of south-west Africa, has been classified as vulnerable on the IUCN red list, as its habitat is threatened by miningThe desert rain frog is one of the most unusual amphibians on the planet. With a rotund body and stumpy legs that dig rather than jump, it has evolved to survive not in wetlands or rainforests, but in the unforgiving dunes of the southern African desert.This week the species was declared to be threatened with extinction by the
  
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• Swift nest reportedly thrown in skip during house renovations in South Tyneside

  10-07-2026 10:00
  Conservationists fear more nests may have been destroyed during work on Jarrow houses by council-appointed contractorSwift chicks are feared to have been thrown into a skip during house renovations in South Tyneside, despite rules that should stop the destruction of nests.The Northern Swifts Group (NSG) was alerted to the destruction of at least one nest on Tuesday, in a street in Jarrow where houses were being renovated by South Tyneside council. Continue reading...
  
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• Week in wildlife: a froggy lunch, a surf-loving penguin and an ambitious treehopper

  10-07-2026 09:00
  This week’s best wildlife photographs from around the world Continue reading...
  
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• We say thanks to all our selfless spineless pals | First Dog on the Moon

  10-07-2026 08:28
  While I have no influence on the Guardian committee, I know who this year’s winner of the Invertebrate of the Year competition should beNominate your Invertebrate of the Year now! You have until midnight on Monday 13 July to submit your responseSign up here to get an email whenever First Dog cartoons are publishedGet all your needs met at the First Dog shop if what you need is First Dog merchandise and prints Continue reading...
  
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• ‘I just want to know if it has caused my cancer’: life in the shadow of Lancashire Pfas factory

  10-07-2026 08:00
  
  People in Thornton-Cleveleys want answers on the impact of widespread contamination around the chemical plant“Everything I wanted was finally coming to fruition. A house, a change of job and getting married,” says Liz Hurst, looking out to sea on a hot evening in Blackpool.“But then all of a sudden, everything was put on hold.” Fifteen years ago, Hurst was diagnosed with kidney cancer aged 32. Continue reading...
  
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• Pollutionwatch: How harmful ozone builds up near ground in heatwaves

  10-07-2026 07:00
  Concentrations of gas were continuously raised in Europe during June hot spell, with potentially deadly effectsWidespread air pollution was a feature of June’s record-breaking heat across western Europe and is likely to increase again as the UK experiences its third heatwave of the summer.UK weather warnings for extreme heat from 22 June were followed by a rare high air pollution alert from the London mayor. Continue reading...
  
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• Heatwave across western Europe – in pictures

  10-07-2026 07:00
  Western Europe has been scorched by its hottest June on record, scientists have said, as the UK enters its third heatwave of the year and wildfires ravage France and SpainWestern Europe records hottest-ever June as heatwaves intensify Continue reading...
  
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• Country diary: I thought I was poking a hedgehog’s nest. I was wrong | Claire Stares

  10-07-2026 06:30
  Langstone, Hampshire: Tree bumblebees are generally placid, but they’re not keen on someone prodding their home with the end of a bamboo caneLast summer, one by one, all our visiting hedgehogs fell victim to the road. For the first time in years, the hedgehog house beneath a purple-leaved elder in a secluded corner of the garden sat empty over winter.Then a few weeks ago I found fresh faeces on the patio, glistening with fragments of undigested insect exoskeleton – a sure sign that&n
  
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