Environment news

• Fast-moving California wildfire burns homes as people are ordered to leave

  17-10-2026 21:13 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Fanned by the fierce Santa Ana winds, the Norte Fire is one of 13 burning across the state.
  
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• ‘We can’t leave people behind’: frustration and hope mingle in the wake of Lismore’s post-flood renewal

  17-10-2026 21:00 via theguardian.com
  Almost five years after it was devastated by a record-breaking flood, Lismore is a city divided into those rebuilding and those still navigating a way outGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastAlison Norris looks admiringly around the simple two-bedroom home that has housed her and her three children for the past nine months. From the outside, it looks like a demountable found at a construction site, bordered by a tidy native garden. But it’s more than she has had in th
  
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• Hiding in plane sight: the invisible turbulence that can strike out of a clear blue sky

  17-10-2026 21:00 via theguardian.com
  As the planet warms, airlines are grappling with what this means for air travel – and for the passengers who simply refuse to keep their seatbelts fastenedIt was a swelteringly hot afternoon in south-west Myanmar on 21 May 2024. Tropical thunderstorms, showers and highs of 36C were forecast for the area around the Irrawaddy Basin. High above, monsoonal heat and humidity were building into a vast convective column of water vapour, a towering cumulonimbus cloud soaring up to 35,000ft (more t
  
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• A tale of two cities: hope and despair within Lismore after the flooding

  17-10-2026 21:00 via theguardian.com
  Almost five years after it was devastated by a record-breaking flood, Lismore is a city divided into those rebuilding and those still navigating a way outGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastAlison Norris looks admiringly around the simple two-bedroom home that has housed her and her three children for the past nine months. From the outside, it looks like a demountable found at a construction site, bordered by a tidy native garden. But it’s more than she has had in th
  
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• From little acorns … to his 1,000th article for the Guardian country diary

  17-10-2026 14:00 via theguardian.com
  
  As Mark Cocker approaches a landmark for the world’s oldest column in an English-language newspaper, he is still inspired by powerful encounters with natureIn the autumn of 1987, Mark Cocker sat in a field near Norwich and watched a jay burying acorns for the long winter ahead. He described the scene in his first country diary for the Guardian. Thirty-nine years on, some of those jay-planted acorns will be mature oaks now, and Cocker is completing his 1,000th diary for the world’s ol
  
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• How the quirky puffin became a symbol of the climate crisis – and hope

  17-10-2026 13:00 via theguardian.com
  In an extract from his new book, the nature historian explains how technology could help the seabird surviveFor centuries human beings have exploited puffins, harvesting them by the thousand on their breeding grounds for their food and feathers. Over time, though, this relationship has changed, so that today we have come to love them, celebrating their quirky character and comical appearance and giving them a central place in our affections – a journey described by the environmental histor
  
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• Honeybees are barging aside wild pollinators in hunt for pollen and nectar, study finds

  17-10-2026 11:00 via theguardian.com
  As a surge in beekeepers has lead to increased numbers of honeybees, researchers record them pushing bumblebees and other rival species away from flowersHoneybees are outcompeting wild pollinators for resources by aggressively bumping into them and chasing them away from flowers, research has shown.The study, by researchers from Anglia Ruskin University, found that areas where there were higher concentrations of honeybees had fewer wild pollinators, such as bumblebees, solitary bees and hoverfli
  
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• Avian flu and costs among reasons for loss of captive birds at Castle Espie

  17-10-2026 07:10 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Difficulties in transporting animals since Brexit has contributed to the decline in the number of captive birds.
  
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• Country diary: The challenge of making a thatched roof pine-marten proof | Tom Allan

  17-10-2026 06:30 via theguardian.com
  Glenisla, Angus: Damage by squirrels is common; the mustelid less so. Still, as a local told me, ‘you cannae blame them wanting somewhere to live’That the thatch is thick with moss and crusted with the brittle fronds of lichen is not unusual for a roof of this age. What’s puzzling me is the hole in its centre. It is about 10in wide – a dark scoop, as if someone has taken a giant ladle to the roof.When I climb the ladder for a closer look, I can see toothmarks on
  
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• Brazil sees record fall in Amazon deforestation as key election looms

  17-10-2026 04:33 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The Amazon rainforest is a crucial buffer against climate change - but deforestation had expanded under former president Jair Bolsonaro.
  
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• Why hasn't the UK had any named storms yet?

  17-10-2026 03:53 via bbc.co.uk
  
  So far this autumn wet and windy weather patterns have been steered away from the UK. When could we see that change?
  
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• Uncovering the secrets of New Zealand’s elusive ‘jungle penguins’

  17-10-2026 01:15 via theguardian.com
  The tawaki, or Fiordland crested penguin, known for its prominent yellow eyebrows, has for years baffled scientists with its unusual habitsDeep in the misty fjords of New Zealand’s South Island, a team of researchers is trying to catch one of the world’s most elusive penguins: the forest-dwelling tawaki, or Fiordland crested penguin.For weeks, researchers stand sentry each day over a burrow on Eleanor Island, hoping to corner the female bird so they can retrieve data from its tagging
  
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• Cloudy with a chance of moths: bogong swarms are bamboozling weather radars across NSW

  17-10-2026 01:00 via theguardian.com
  Radar systems designed for rain, hail and snow are picking up bogong moths migrating to the Australian AlpsGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastIt was during Sydney’s Olympic Games in 2000, people say, that a swarm of bogong moths attracted by stadium lights was so huge that meteorologists mistook it for rain.Fast forward 26 years and the bogongs are back in big numbers. And, this time, they are firmly on the radar. Continue reading...
  
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