Category Archives: News

News

Huge spider assumed extinct in Britain discovered on Surrey MoD training site

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The Guardian reports one of Britain’s largest spiders has been discovered on a Ministry of Defence training ground in Surrey having not been seen in the country for 27 years.

Mike Waite from Surrey Wildlife Trust discovered the elusive spider after two years of trawling around after dark looking for it on the Surrey military site, which the MoD is not naming for security reasons.

The great fox-spider is a night-time hunter, known for its speed and agility, as well as its eight black eyes which give it wraparound vision. The critically endangered spider was assumed extinct in Britain after last being spotted in 1993 on Hankley Common in Surrey.

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How Rewilding Brought Nature Back to England’s Knepp Estate

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Vogue reports for the first time since we started rewilding, in 2000, I sensed my husband, Charlie’s, resolve beginning to waver. Letters from neighbors were reaching a crescendo of outrage. Over the nine years since we began handing Knepp Estate, our 3,500-acre farm in West Sussex, over to nature we had weathered complaints about our free-roaming animals, outbreaks of ragwort, unkempt hedgerows, and thorny scrub desecrating the picture-postcard image of England’s green and pleasant land. 

Photo from Knepp Estate by Fred Langridge under creative commons.

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Restore natural habitats or ‘face wildlife catastrophe’, campaigners warn

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The Daily Mail and The Guardian report a wildlife catastrophe is imminent unless urgent action is taken to restore Britain’s natural habitats, campaigners have warned today. Nature group Rewilding Britain said global warming means species’ ‘climate zones’ – areas with ideal temperature, humidity and rainfall for those creatures – are moving north too fast for them to keep up. 

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Six ways to help look after wildlife this autumn

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The Leader reports gardeners are being urged to hang out fat balls and avoid turning their compost heaps in order to help wildlife this autumn. Gardening experts from GardeningExpress.co.uk have shared six tips to help look after autumn wildlife.

From the humble hedgehog to toads and frogs, wildlife found in gardens across the country are starting to adapt and prepare for the winter ahead. Ensuring the animals have access to food, water and shelter will mean they have a much better chance of surviving the winter.

Bill Stanworth photo of male common toad croaking in garden pond.

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Ramblers discover almost 50,000 miles of historic footpaths that have disappeared from maps

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INEWS reports talkers across the country have unearthed almost 50,000 miles of lost footpaths that have disappeared from official maps of England and Wales, in the largest ‘citizen science’ project of its kind. Walking charity Ramblers said thousands of volunteers spent February comparing official OS maps with historic maps showing old footpaths across England and Wales. 

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HS2: Moving ancient woodland habitat for rail line flawed, ecologists say

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The BBC reports moving ancient woodlands cut down to make way for HS2 is a fundamentally flawed idea, leading ecologists say. The company behind the new rapid rail connection between London and the north of England is cutting down trees in the course of the construction. HS2 say the woods are not being destroyed because their soils are being “translocated” to other places. 

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How an ‘orchard renaissance’ could bring nature back to UK cities

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The Guardian reports volunteers are reviving a legacy of fruit trees that stretches back to the Romans, hugely increasing biodiversity – and cider production. Every autumn, cider maker Hawkes asks Londoners to donate apples to its cidery under the railway arches in Bermondsey, just south of Tower Bridge. In normal times, people who drop off a box of russets or royals leave with a bottle of cider from last year’s crop. But 2020 has not been a normal year. Through a trial delivery scheme to continue the exchange during the pandemic, 12 tonnes of apples have arrived at Hawkes in the post. 

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Gardens help towns and cities beat countryside for tree cover

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The BBC reports urban areas are not all high-rise flats and offices, they are also where you’ll find many of the country’s trees. Two London boroughs – Camden and Croydon – were among the top 20 places in England and Wales with the most tree cover, a research project has found. Meanwhile largely rural areas had some of the least – including part of the Lake District and the Yorkshire Dales. Garden trees are boosting numbers in towns, while farming helps explain some of the low rural rankings.