The Guardian reports during the late 1950s and early 1960s, four slim volumes about the natural world, aimed at children, hit the bookshops. They bore the title What to Look for in… followed by each of the four seasons: Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter. The books were an instant success and inspired a whole generation of naturalists. Now, more than 60 years later, Ladybird Books is publishing a new series under the same title, written by Elizabeth Jenner and illustrated by Natasha Durley. Like the originals, they aim to inspire budding young naturalists to learn more about the wild creatures they might see during the different seasons.
Monthly Archives: February 2021
Extinction Rebellion to rescue and plant 30,000 oak trees as government planting efforts falter
The Independent reports Extinction Rebellion activists are to rescue and plant at least 30,000 oak saplings across the country after nursery owners said they could be forced to destroy hundreds of thousands of trees because of delays to government tree planting programmes.
Rewilding is ‘polarising’ farmers, says RSPB chief as she reveals nature reserves will be joined to farmland
In an interview with the Telegraph, RSPB’s Beccy Speight said that nature campaigners often use “polarising” language around rewilding and mass tree planting, which can alienate farmers, and argued that conservationists should work with farmers, who own the largest amounts of Britain’s land. RSPB will join their land with neighbours and help them manage their field margins and unfarmed space for nature.
Bellway housebuilders fined £600,000 for destroying bat roost in south London
The Guardian reports a building firm that carried out demolition work at a site known to be inhabited by bats has been handed a £600,000 fine, the largest ever issued by a court for a wildlife crime, according to police.
Bellway, the housebuilders, admitted damaging or destroying a breeding site or resting place in Artillery Place, Greenwich, south-east London, in 2018, where soprano pipistrelle bats had been documented the previous year.
Restore UK woodland by letting trees plant themselves, says report
The Guardian and The Independent report allowing trees and woodland to regenerate through the natural dispersal of seeds should become the default way to restore Britain’s forest cover, according to a new report. Natural regeneration brings the most benefits for biodiversity, is cost-effective and may sequester more carbon than previously thought, argues Rewilding Britain.
Willow tit becomes Britain’s fastest declining resident bird, survey finds
The Guardian reports the willow tit has become Britain’s fastest declining resident bird, and one of half a dozen imperilled woodland species, according to the definitive survey of the country’s birds. Numbers of the diminutive tit, a subspecies unique to the UK, have plummeted by 94% since 1970, and by a third since 2008.
Animals and plants reclaim Scotland’s abandoned spaces: photo essay
The Guardian shares a photo essay – from a former airfield to a disused explosives factory, many of the country’s forgotten places are teeming with life as nature reinhabits abandoned manmade structures