Environment news

• Scottish gannet chick hunt blocked for first time in 400 years

  03-08-2026 18:56 via theguardian.com
  NatureScot refuses licence for hunt on Hebridean island of Sula Sgeir in which up to 2,000 seabirds are killedA controversial Scottish seabird hunt will not go ahead for the first time in 400 years, in what campaigners have called a “victory for common sense”.In the annual guga hunt, up to 2,000 gannet chicks are killed over a 10-day period on the uninhabited Hebridean island of Sula Sgeir, 40 miles north of Lewis and Harris. Continue reading...
  
  Read more

• Three-quarters of England in drought as summer’s fifth heatwave looms

  10-08-2026 18:32 via theguardian.com
  Four more regions given drought status, putting 27 million people under restrictions on water useAlmost three-quarters of England is now in drought, as much of Europe braces for its fifth climate crisis-driven heatwave this summer.Four more regions of England have officially been declared to be in drought: the East Midlands, Lincolnshire and Northamptonshire, Kent and East Sussex, and Solent and the South Downs. Continue reading...
  
  Read more

• Almost three-quarters of England now in drought ahead of summer’s fifth heatwave

  10-08-2026 18:32 via theguardian.com
  Four more regions given drought status, with 27 million people now living with restrictions on water useAlmost three-quarters of England is now in drought, as much of Europe braces for its fifth climate crisis-driven heatwave this summer.Four more regions of England have officially been declared to be in drought: the east Midlands, Lincolnshire and Northamptonshire, Kent and East Sussex, and Solent and the South Downs. Continue reading...
  
  Read more

• Martin Rowson on the drought and Britain’s water companies – cartoon

  10-08-2026 18:28 via theguardian.com
  Continue reading...
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• Drought expected to be declared in more parts of England ahead of possible 36C heat

  10-08-2026 17:09 via theguardian.com
  North-west could join other parts of country in drought, and amber heat health alerts issued for much of EnglandDrought is expected to be declared in more areas of England as much of Europe braces for its fifth heatwave of the summer.The National Drought Group, whose members include the government, water companies, the National Farmers’ Union, the Met Office and conservation experts, will meet on Monday to assess the situation across England. Continue reading...
  
  Read more

• Jean hoped bird flu wouldn’t come to Australia. Then it arrived – and she saw a tern ‘trembling and swaying’

  10-08-2026 17:00 via theguardian.com
  Volunteers are on the lookout for sick birds as outbreak shatters ‘fairytale belief’ that disease would not reach AustraliaGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastBird enthusiast Jean Turner hoped avian flu would never arrive at her doorstep.At her home on Kangaroo Island in South Australia, bossy fairy wrens chirp at her from the deck, grey currawongs clumsily fall into her bird bath, and fluffy, hooded plover chicks emerge from speckled eggs in front of her binoc
  
  Read more

• ‘It’s very challenging’: how the Duke of Westminster’s farm is taking on the climate crisis

  10-08-2026 16:00 via theguardian.com
  Amid world pressure from heatwaves and fertiliser shortages, billionaire’s business has invested in circular farming and biomethaneThere is a distinctive smell of cow manure in the air at the Duke of Westminster’s dairy farm near Chester. It is a world away from the collection of grand West End properties controlled by the duke that form the backbone of his near £10bn fortune, a decade on from becoming Britain’s youngest billionaire.As part of his 349-year-old Grosvenor e
  
  Read more

• Amber heat-health alerts issued for most of England as temperatures could reach 36C or higher this week – latest updates

  10-08-2026 15:28 via theguardian.com
  The upgraded alerts will be in place from 9am on Tuesday until 9pm on FridayAn 18-year-old died after getting into difficulty in the sea at Camber Sands beach, East Sussex, yesterday, bringing the number of deaths in open-water incidents over the hot, dry summer to over 40, according to estimates compiled by the Press Association.The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has updated heat-health alerts for nine regions in England, warning that rising temperatures this week may increase health risks,
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• People flocking to Spain to view solar eclipse could spark more ‘devastating’ wildfires

  10-08-2026 15:21 via theguardian.com
  Northern Spain will be one of the best places in world to view phenomenon with 460,000 extra visitors expectedAuthorities in Spain have warned of an increased risk of fires when hundreds of thousands of people head to the hills and beaches to get a better view of Wednesday’s total solar eclipse.“The vegetation is extraordinarily dry and the smallest spark or carelessness could lead to devastating forest fires,” the environment minister, Sara Aagesen, said on a visit to Niebla i
  
  Read more

• Drought set to be declared in more parts of England ahead of possible 36C heat

  10-08-2026 14:39 via theguardian.com
  North-west could join other parts of country in drought, and amber heat health alerts issued for much of EnglandDrought is expected to be declared in more areas of England as the UK braces for its fifth heatwave of the summer.The National Drought Group, whose members include the government, water companies, the National Farmers’ Union, the Met Office and conservation experts, will meet on Monday to assess the situation across England. Continue reading...
  
  Read more

• An ambitious new project in Florida is giving marine scientists hope: ‘I just see so much potential’

  10-08-2026 14:00 via theguardian.com
  Conservationists have created a ‘coastal corridor’ of ocean-based projects designed to preserve and nourish vulnerable marine lifeFrom disappearing manatees to bleached coral reefs, gender-changing turtles and oyster beds destroyed by hurricanes, no other state’s marine life faces the magnitude of climate-related challenges than Florida’s.Now, wildlife authorities are attempting to bring some cohesion to tackling the diverse slate of issues by borrowing from a playbook th
  
  Read more

• ‘Unprecedented, dangerous territory’: US north-west reckons with a summer of historic wildfires

  10-08-2026 13:00 via theguardian.com
  Extreme conditions in Washington and Oregon have fueled fast-moving fires, leaving the region draped in toxic plumes – and the danger isn’t overPiles of twisted metal and ashen debris line the cul-de-sacs where the tranquil suburbs of Spokane, Washington, once stood.The scale of devastation from a historic fire season of wildfire in the Pacific north-west has come into sharper focus as firefighters wrangle a trio of blazes that consumed at least 846 structures on the eastern side of
  
  Read more

• Stuff of nightmares? Meet the bootlace worm – super-long, super-elastic, and it fires toxic slime

  10-08-2026 13:00 via theguardian.com
  Its mucus, which can kill crabs and cockroaches, could be the basis of new insecticidesIt’s the shuddery stuff of nightmares for some, but for a select group who admire extending ladders, giraffes and the Odyssey, one of the longest animals in the world is bound to appeal.This creature is nneither the blue whale, nor a lion’s mane jellyfish but the humble bootlace worm, Lineus longissimus, one of the most remarkable marine invertebrates of them all.It’s invertebrate of the year
  
  Read more

• Invisible poison: living with mercury pollution in the Colombian Amazon – in pictures

  10-08-2026 13:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Rainforest communities face a silent crisis as mercury from gold mining contaminates their food and water Continue reading...
  
  Read more

• Fast-moving wildfire engulfs hills in western Canada – video

  10-08-2026 12:07 via theguardian.com
  Thousands of residents in British Columbia's wine and orchard region were ordered to evacuate on Saturday as a fast-moving wildfire in western Canada nearly doubled in size overnight. The Bald Range fire was burning out of control across about 9,500 hectares, prompting evacuation orders in Summerland, Peachland and other districts west of Okanagan LakeCanadian government steps in as ‘out of control’ wildfires force thousands to flee Continue reading...
  
  Read more

• I should be happy to have a pigeon for a friend. But she wouldn’t be my first choice | Emma Beddington

  10-08-2026 12:00 via theguardian.com
  Truman Capote had a ‘crow bro’; Dickens had a raven. And I get standoffish Susan, who has never brought me a present or perched on my shoulderOne of the greatest failures of my life to date (along with my sons’ shameful inability to eat apples correctly, down to the core) is my inability to attract a “crow bro”. That’s a corvid companion, and more and more people apparently have them, including Washington Post journalist Caitlin Gibson, who recently wrote abou
  
  Read more

• Harry Potter fans force relocation of £430m undersea cable to avoid Dobby’s ‘grave’

  10-08-2026 09:46 via theguardian.com
  Power cable linking UK and Ireland now passes near Bronze Age human burial remains instead of fictional grave on Welsh beachHarry Potter fans have forced a new multimillion-pound power cable between the UK and Ireland to be relocated after complaining it would desecrate the “grave” of Dobby, a fictional elf.The character was laid to rest on Freshwater West beach in Pembrokeshire, Wales, during the film Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Fans of the wizard series now come to leave
  
  Read more

• UK temperatures could hit 36C as fifth heatwave of summer looms

  10-08-2026 09:44 via theguardian.com
  Met Office considers amber or red warning as forecasters say Thursday is likely to be hottest day of the weekTemperatures could reach 36C (97F) or higher this week, forecasters have said, with possible disruption to railway lines and power networks as the Met Office considers issuing rare amber or red extreme heat warnings.Parts of the UK are forecast to experience the fifth heatwave of the summer as the country continues to bake in an unprecedented period of dry, hot weather. Continue reading..
  
  Read more

• Typhoon Dolphin: more than a million people evacuated in China as record rainfall dumped on Shanghai

  10-08-2026 06:55 via theguardian.com
  
  Authorities warn that days of intense rain could trigger widespread flooding and landslides as storm moves north and further inlandMore than a million people were moved to safety across eastern China by Sunday evening as powerful Typhoon Dolphin made landfall amid fears torrential rain would cause flooding and landslides.Wenzhou, a coastal city in Zhejiang province, said it relocated more than 900,000 people and opened more than 1,500 emergency shelters. In neighbouring Fujian, 98,900 people wer
  
  Read more

• Country diary: The thin, hungry fox goes for the sleepy hen | Nic Wilson

  10-08-2026 06:30 via theguardian.com
  Hitchin, Hertfordshire: A rare daytime attack on our chickens led to a standoff. But I could see this animal was suffering in the heatwave High-pitched shrieking shattered the mid-morning calm and I knew, immediately, that there was a killer on the loose. I tore out of the patio door and across the lawn to intervene between predator and prey, facing down a fox with black tail feathers in its jaws. Shouting and growling, all animal myself, I was driven by instinct to protect our chickens, Cu
  
  Read more

• Canadian government steps in as ‘out of control’ wildfires force thousands to flee

  09-08-2026 20:20 via theguardian.com
  
  British Columbia battling 102 fires day and night across province, as breakneck speed hampers firefighters’ effortsCanada’s federal government has announced it will provide urgent assistance to British Columbia after an onslaught of unprecedented fast-moving wildfires that killed one person and forced about 22,000 people to flee their homes in frantic evacuations.A total of 102 wildfires were raging across the province on Sunday, of which nearly half were categorised as “out of
  
  Read more

• The Guardian view on India’s green growth gamble: it will need more than private finance | Editorial

  09-08-2026 18:25 via theguardian.com
  The world’s most populous country needs state-generated demand to industrialise, decarbonise and avoid China’s overcapacity trapIndia is attempting to do something the world has never seen before. So claimed Niti Aayog, the government of India’s policy thinktank, earlier this year. It said that no major economy has tried to expand GDP nearly eightfold within a generation while simultaneously redirecting its energy and industrial systems to reach net zero within two generations.
  
  Read more

• How clean air clubs are protecting Americans from wildfire smoke

  09-08-2026 17:00 via theguardian.com
  Mutual aid groups that started giving out PPEs during Covid are now loaning air purifiers and distributing masks to fume-addled communitiesMiquette Thompson’s home in rural Mendocino county has been covered in smoke all week. There are the nearby Feliz and Woodside fires in northern California, which have burned more than 1,000 acres, as well as the wildfires devastating Oregon and Washington that are sending smoke their way, too.“It’s become not unusual,” she said of wal
  
  Read more

• Avoid rare species and only take what you need: how to forage and save money on your food shopping

  09-08-2026 15:00 via theguardian.com
  While there are fears that people harvesting their food could put pressure on habitats, some ecologists suggest responsible foraging can boost conservation and biodiversityAngus Morton crouches behind a cricket pavilion in a London park to snip stinging nettles from an unkempt patch of greenery.“They’re so abundant and they’re so good,” says Morton, a regenerative gardener who pops out once a week to forage bits for dinner. “I use them in pesto, tea … I&rsquo
  
  Read more

• What are datacentres doing to the places we love? In Slough, I found a bleak answer | John Harris

  09-08-2026 13:03 via theguardian.com
  Whitehall wants to triple the UK’s number of datacentres – but demand for electricity and water means that could be at the expense of new homesAmid headlines about the UK’s drought, Europe’s wildfires and impossible global temperatures, it was 28C when I arrived in Slough last Monday. I was there to look around Slough Trading Estate, a place that might once have conjured up images of the TV comedy The Office, many of whose laughs came at the expense of this overgrown patc
  
  Read more

• As AI guzzles water and energy, we are already facing a choice: datacentres or homes? | John Harris

  09-08-2026 13:03 via theguardian.com
  Whitehall wants to triple their number in the UK. Yet in Slough, I saw the impact they’re having on communitiesAmid headlines about the UK’s drought, Europe’s wildfires and impossible global temperatures, it was 28C when I arrived in Slough last Monday. I was there to look around Slough Trading Estate, a place that might once have conjured up images of the TV comedy The Office, many of whose laughs came at the expense of this overgrown patch of suburbia, 20-odd miles west of Lo
  
  Read more

• ‘Panda of the insect world’: the moscardón bumblebee creates buzz for invertebrate of the year

  09-08-2026 13:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Bombus dahlbomii, a giant ginger bumblebee fondly known as the flying mouse, is in decline in its native Patagonia due to commercial farmingRevealed: the top 10 invertebrates of the yearWe all love bumblebees. Not only are they beautiful, busy and social, they perform pollination services that are crucial for plants, crops and human civilisation.Any bumblebee would be a worthy winner of invertebrate of the year but a gorgeous giant ginger bumblebee fondly known as the flying mouse? Come on! Cont
  
  Read more

• Falkland Islanders call for referendum on plans for massive salmon farm

  09-08-2026 11:00 via theguardian.com
  The 3,500 population is divided over the venture, which would bring investment and jobs, but critics claim the environmental cost would be too highIt is among the world’s last pristine wildernesses, with unique coastal waters rich in krill and squid that attract sea lions, elephant seals, dolphins and whales, and where penguins, of which there are five different species locally, outnumber people.But plans to make the Falkland Islands, one the most remote and furthest-flung British overseas
  
  Read more

• ‘These are human fires, not wildfires’: Dunwich reflects on the devastation

  09-08-2026 08:00 via theguardian.com
  
  As residents, nature wardens and experts consider the damage to the heathland and how to restore it, the climate crisis is foremost in their mindsA local community pulling together, emergency services saving homes and caravan parks from catastrophe, and farmers and nature reserve wardens working to rapidly create fire breaks to halt a marauding fireball 40 metres high – there was plenty to praise the week after a swathe of east Suffolk burned.But local people were also in tears at the blac
  
  Read more

• Plastics contamination an ‘overlooked’ concern in food waste schemes, experts say

  09-08-2026 07:00 via theguardian.com
  Researchers find microplastics can persist in compost, leaching into agricultural soilsPlastic contamination should be a central concern in efforts to deal with food waste, which campaigners call one of the most overlooked problems of the climate crisis, researchers have said.This is despite the fact that, as the chef, author and activist Max La Manna puts it, food waste management is “one of the few climate problems where everyone wins”. Continue reading...
  
  Read more

Follow @UK_Environment on Twitter!