Environment news

• Ruffled feathers at the windswept tarn

  25-04-2017 06:30
  
  Tindale Tarn, Cumbria A flock of sand martins skim the choppy water and tufted duck bob on the dark grey waterBuffeted sideways by the gale, we descend to Tindale Tarn, a small lake in the RSPB reserve of Geltsdale. Skylarks spring up from rough pasture around the stony track to sing shrill and sweet as piccolos in a stormy sky. This land, once mined for coal and lead, is an important breeding area for upland birds; curlew, redshank and lapwing call as we huddle in the open-sided hide by the tar
  
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• Nutrients in our food are declining. Can regenerative agriculture save it?

  24-07-2026 14:34
  Approach focuses on rebuilding soil health, increasing biodiversity and restoring natural ecosystemsFor the last few decades, the nutrient content of our crops has been declining. In the late 90s, the US Department of Agriculture found the vitamin C content of lemons had decreased by almost a third over the previous 22 years. Calcium in carrots, an important source especially for non-meat eaters, had reduced, on average, by more than a quarter. Vitamin A in bananas was down by 57%. The mineral c
  
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• ‘Total chaos’: the biological wonderland threatened by Trump’s border wall

  24-07-2026 13:00
  Environmental groups are sounding the alarm over plans that threaten a desert spring that’s home to rare fish and turtles and sacred to the O’odham peopleQuitobaquito Springs in south-west Arizona has been called a biological wonderland with few equals.The springs are an oasis in the vast Sonoran desert along the US-Mexico border, held sacred by the O’odham people, who call it A’al Vaipia. Here, water flows out of an aquifer at the bottom of a hill, runs along a short con
  
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• Mangrove photography awards 2026 – in pictures

  24-07-2026 10:00
  A selection of the winners, runners-up and highly commended photos from the Mangrove photography awards, run by the Mangrove Action Project, which received 5,258 entries from 87 countries. In its 12th year, the awards continue to offer a window into landscapes viewers may otherwise never encounter Continue reading...
  
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• Week in wildlife: a thirsty baby hedgehog, a rare puffling and a jumping spider

  24-07-2026 09:00
  This week’s best wildlife photographs from around the world Continue reading...
  
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• What can the Galápagos Islands’ animals teach us about the threats of El Niño?

  24-07-2026 08:00
  In this week’s newsletter: the archipelago at the centre of the extreme weather phenomenon could help scientists predict how other marine ecosystems will adapt to our warming climate• Don’t get Down to Earth delivered to your inbox? Sign up hereThe ocean waters around the Galápagos Islands are hot. Very hot. Observed for centuries in the Pacific by fishers, the El Niño weather phenomenon begins when the prevailing trade winds slow, allowing warm water to spread eas
  
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• One year, 17 towns, dozens of voices: what we heard along the coast of England and Wales

  24-07-2026 08:00
  Reporting from some of the poorest seaside towns revealed how young people have been left isolated – but remain resilient and full of hopeIf you were asked to summon up images of the coastline of England and Wales, you might think of sunny days, buckets, spades and carefree holidays. But for many young people growing up by the sea, decades of evidence tell a very different story. For them, rather than a picture-perfect horizon full of hope, the sea has become a boundary that swallows up op
  
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• Country diary: A fragrant walk among the sweet stranglehold of honeysuckle | Phil Gates

  24-07-2026 06:30
  Deerness Valley, County Durham: For all its beauty, there is something sinister about honeysuckle, a vegetable boa constrictor lurking in the floraAn early morning walk before the heat of the day becomes oppressive. The woodland footpath lies in deep shadow, flecked with sunbeams. A familiar fragrance – honeysuckle – lingers in the cool, still air.There are a few Lonicera periclymenum flowers at eye level, but most of the sweet, clove-like perfume comes from thousands of in
  
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• Rare heron seen at Somerset estate where river has been allowed to run free

  24-07-2026 06:00
  Black-crowned night heron one of many species thriving at Holnicote Estate where river ‘reset’ has transformed area into lush oasisA rare black-crowned night heron has been spotted on an estate in the south-west of England where an innovative river “reset” is transforming the area into an oasis for birdlife.The heron was caught on camera in a jungly corner of the Holnicote Estate, where conservation experts have been restoring the landscape by allowing a river to return t
  
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• Experience: I hunt for missing hikers in remote mountains

  24-07-2026 06:00
  
  Since I started doing search and rescue five years ago, I have found seven survivors. Sadly, the number I find dead is higherIn 2012, I was a student and had arrived in Taiwan from the Czech Republic. I soon discovered something that interested me far more than my studies: the mountains of Taiwan. I would leave the campus to explore untouched trails near Taipei. I was obsessed with old maps, often looking for routes that had vanished from modern ones, and hiking paths that no one had taken for d
  
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• Thousands flee wildfires in France and Spain as temperatures reach extreme levels in southern Europe

  24-07-2026 02:16
  
  France asks EU for help while Spain declares national emergency around Madrid, as marine heatwave sees parts of Mediterranean Sea 5C hotter than normalBrutal heat torching southern Europe has forced about 30,000 people to flee wildfires in France and Spain as a marine heatwave scalds the Mediterranean and researchers warn that “Dantesque” scenarios cannot be ruled out as infernos worsen.France has requested assistance from ⁠the European Union to help it deal ⁠with a ̼
  
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• Thousands evacuated in south of France as wildfire rages across pine forest – video

  23-07-2026 20:34
  Local people and tourists were evacuated from the Arcachon Bay area overnight into Thursday after a huge fire engulfed more than 3,400 hectares (8,400 acres) of forest. Pushed by the wind, with flames reaching 10 metres high, the fire is still spreading towards the Cap Ferret peninsula. On Tuesday, two firefighters died battling another nearby fire close to Bordeaux airport Thousands flee wildfires in France as temperatures reach extreme levels in southern Europe Continue reading...
  
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• The Guardian view on Britain’s uninhabitable homes: as temperatures rise, a new approach is needed | Editorial

  23-07-2026 19:21
  Sadiq Khan’s heat-ready plan for London is a sensible strategy for adaptation that should provide a roadmap for other cities“Our ability to trust that our homes will keep us safe from the outside is under threat,” the geographer Sam Johnson-Schlee writes in Hot House, his recent book on how heat has transformed domestic life. This summer, high temperatures have become inescapable. People have coped with makeshift solutions: keeping curtains drawn, placing foil over windows or &
  
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• Before you throw out all the synthetic fabrics in your closet, read this

  23-07-2026 18:00
  
  Experts weigh in on wellness culture’s obsession with natural fibers and the growing trend of people shunning plastic-based clothingA few months ago, Lane Koch made a decision: she would purge her family’s closets of all plastic-based fabrics and replace them with natural fibers, such as cotton and linen.Koch, a longtime Republican political strategist who was a senior staffer on Robert F Kennedy Jr’s presidential campaign, has long avoided processed foods and rid her kitchen o
  
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• Legal logging and soaring saplings: the ‘green islands’ bucking the deforestation trend in central America

  23-07-2026 12:00
  
  In Guatemala’s Maya biosphere reserve local people are making a living from trees at the same time as increasing forest cover, showing nature is best protected by those who depend on itThe low rumbling grows louder until a huge harvester crashes into the open, dragging a 15-metre trunk of mahogany in its wake. The tractor manoeuvres before releasing its load and shovelling it like a matchstick on to a growing pile of lumber at the edge of the clearing. Then, with a crunch of gears and a be
  
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• I am used to hot days now. But the warm wind has really panicked me | Adrian Chiles

  23-07-2026 12:00
  I first noticed it a couple of weeks ago on the streets of Cardiff – and it felt alarmingly wrongWhen the wind is warm, you know something is up. Naturally, I have been well aware of the awful reality of the climate crisis, but it has taken the warmth of the wind to really panic me. Not the endless 30C+ days, the desiccated garden, the tap slowing to a drip. No, it is the warm wind blowing on me. I can just about manage in punishing heat, even though it is particularly suffocating when the
  
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• Weatherwatch: How increased Arctic shipping affects cloud formation

  23-07-2026 07:00
  Shipping routes opened by climate change mean more industrial pollutants in the airThe gradual reduction in Arctic ice has started to open up new shipping routes, with marine traffic increasing by about 40% over the past 12 years. All these ships leave trails of pollutants in the air, which are already having a measurable climate effect.Aerosol particles in engine exhaust act as nuclei for water droplets, promoting cloud formation. Like aircraft, ships may leave contrails behind them in the sky.
  
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• Besieged by lobbyists, will UK ministers protect our ecosystems? No, they’ll chicken out | George Monbiot

  23-07-2026 07:00
  Industrial poultry farming is killing our rivers. But rather than stop it, the government has been facilitating it. Will Andy Burnham end this ecocide?There’s a slightly mean question I often ask British people with an interest in the living world: can you name the environment secretary? I don’t intend to show them up: it’s not them I’m testing. I watch the brows knit, a finger go up, the mouth open and close. “It’s, you know, the one who … no, they wen
  
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• Country diary: The eyebright paradox: a sunny healer and tiny parasitic thief | Paul Evans

  23-07-2026 06:30
  The Marches, Shropshire: Eyebrights are ancient herbs used to cure eye problems, but they also penetrate grass roots to siphon off water and nutrients A sight for sore eyes. Eyebrights flower in the short turf of Old Racecourse Common as sunlight burns a hole through rowan trees to cast sunset colours on the grass. The eyebrights are annuals with tiny flowers, 4mm-11mm long with a violet vibe, a white corolla with purple marks and a central flash of yellow.There are about 20 British ey
  
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• ‘People are scared their neighbours will call the police on them’: how the hosepipe ban got caught up in the culture wars

  23-07-2026 06:00
  While many people in the UK recognise the need to preserve water, others are furious and planning to flout the ban in their area. The target of their anger? Failing water companies and frighteningly thirsty datacentres‘Plants are like your babies,” says Harry. And accordingly, he argues, most people would do anything to keep them alive, including break the law. This is what he plans to do this week – defying a hosepipe ban in place across large parts of England, to ensure his s
  
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• Orcas seen ramming prey so hard it explodes may be playing game

  23-07-2026 06:00
  
  Scientists believe sunfish-smashing behaviour could be form of entertainment or to help younger whales feedOrcas have been observed ramming into giant fish so hard that the prey explode, possibly as a form of gory entertainment.On several occasions, orcas were observed to hold sunfish in their jaws while a second whale smashed into the target at high speed, causing it to break into thousands of pieces. Since the fish had already been killed, scientists suggested the behaviour may represent a for
  
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• Climate crisis-driven heat ‘sucking soils dry’ as extreme drought hits Europe

  23-07-2026 06:00
  
  Analysis shows how heatwaves are making atmosphere thirstier, damaging water supplies, food production and power generationExtreme heat supercharged by the climate crisis is sucking Europe dry in summer and intensifying the drought hitting the continent, a scientific analysis has found.Record-breaking heatwaves meant the hot atmosphere strongly evaporated water from rivers, lakes, soils and plants – conditions made 80 times more likely by global heating in western Europe and 40 times more
  
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• Nicola Jennings on drought-hit Britain – cartoon

  22-07-2026 19:27
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• One billion plastic pellets spilled into River Tyne after two ships collide

  22-07-2026 18:14
  Up to 25 tonnes of nurdles, the raw material for plastic manufacturing, have spread further than initially fearedApproximately a billion tiny plastic nurdles have entered the River Tyne after a “devastating spill”, with the pellets thought to have spread much further than first thought.Nurdles, which are usually 1mm-5mm in size, act as the raw material to manufacture most plastic products. Continue reading...
  
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• The human fridge: is this really the best way to cool down in a ‘cruelly hot’ climate?

  22-07-2026 18:11
  A ‘personal cooling booth’ that promises to chill you out in 10 minutes has launched in Japan, with its makers claiming it beats air-conditioning or a fanName: The human fridge.Age: Brand new. Continue reading...
  
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• Billion plastic pellets spilled into UK river after two ships collide

  22-07-2026 17:34
  Up to 25 tonnes of nurdles, the raw material for plastic manufacturing, have spread further than initially fearedApproximately a billion tiny plastic nurdles have entered the River Tyne after a “devastating spill”, with the pellets thought to have spread much further than first thought.Nurdles are tiny pellets, usually about 1-5mm in size, that act as the raw material to manufacture most plastic products. Continue reading...
  
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• Great Barrier Reef microbiome mapped as researchers discover 500 bacterial species previously unknown to science

  22-07-2026 17:00
  Research identifies 808,585 viral genomes belonging to what scientists estimate to be 362,802 different virusesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastMore than a decade after the human microbiome was comprehensively mapped, scientists have now identified the vast communities of microbes that make up the Great Barrier Reef.Analysing DNA from seawater samples of 48 reefs, researchers have mapped the microbiome of the Great Barrier Reef, documenting more than 360,000 distinct vi
  
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• Food price fears after Europe’s heatwave destroys estimated €2bn of crops

  22-07-2026 16:12
  Record June temperatures expected to cut grain harvest by 9m tonnes to its lowest level since 2018 The heatwave that swept across Europe in June is estimated to have cost the continent’s grain farmers €2bn (£1.7bn) in lost revenue and destroyed 9m tonnes of crops, sparking concern about the impact on the price of food.Coceral, the European cereals and oilseeds trade association, made the estimate for the harvest of crops such as wheat, barley, maize and oats following the heatwa
  
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• Sperm whales change ‘vowel’ sounds when boats are nearby, scientists discover

  22-07-2026 15:00
  Researchers listening off the Caribbean island of Dominica found variations in the mammals’ audible clicks when marine traffic was closeSperm whales produce a specific pattern of clicking noises when they hear the noise of boats, researchers have found. The pattern is so distinct that the scientists who identified it said they can now use it to predict when ships are nearby.Researchers from Project Ceti (the Cetacean Translation Initiative), a non-profit research organisation working to de
  
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• Six beluga whales finally leave embattled Canadian marine park

  22-07-2026 13:48
  Whales flown to US aquariums after long-running saga in which Marineland had threatened to euthanise themSix beluga whales have at last left Marineland, the embattled Canadian marine park in Niagara Falls that previously threatened to kill its own animals, and are arriving at US aquariums this week.While the whales’ journey into the US marks the end of their long and controversial saga of captivity in Canada, advocates say the new conditions, though superior to Marineland, could bring cont
  
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