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UK farmers urged to set aside 1% of land for wildlife havens

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The Guardian reports farmers are being called upon to dedicate 1% of their land to nature and carbon sequestration in an unexpected way – by farming in straight lines.

The call to make a commitment to nature and the climate in the run-up to the crucial COP26 UN climate summit in Glasgow comes from WildEast, the farmer-led rewilding movement that is encouraging landowners large and small to create wildlife-rich places across East Anglia. Since its launch a year ago, the WildEast campaign has gathered pledges from more than 80 farmers in the region to devote 20% of their land to nature. 

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£2 million National Trust research project hopes to reverse woodland and meadow habitat loss in the UK

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The South Downs from Ditchling Beacon photo by hehaden under creative commons

Sky News reports a £2m research project that aims to tackle the biodiversity crisis in the UK and help restore the landscape has been launched. Funded by the Natural Environment Research Council, the four-year partnership hopes to reverse habitat loss in meadows and woodlands caused by farming, urban development, climate change, and pollution.

Taking place at 100 sites, including South Downs and Stonehenge, researchers will examine how different plants, animals, and other organisms in ecosystems work together.

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Fledgling success as hen harrier continues to recover in England

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Hen Harrier photo by Deborah Freeman under creative commons

The Guardian reports the endangered hen harrier is continuing its recovery from near extinction in England with this summer set to have the highest number of chicks fledging since 2002. Of 24 successful nests producing at least 77 fledged chicks this summer, 19 were on moors managed for red grouse, according to the Moorland Association. 

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Peatland restoration project turns land into ‘giant sponge’, to draw down carbon and tackle climate crisis

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The Independent reports a major conservation scheme designed to restore crucial peat bogs in the north of England has turned Holcombe Moor, near Manchester, into a “giant sponge”, which will help the habitat recover, enabling it to store more carbon and help tackle the climate crisis.

A coalition of local and national conservation organisations spent six months creating almost 3,500 scallops-shaped banks of peat, known as “peat bunds”, which they say will help trap water in pools, instead of it running off the moor. 

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Harrowing wildlife pictures reveal true cost of London’s plastic pollution

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The Metro reports London wildlife is facing a mortal threat from the vast plastic waste left in public parks and on the streets. Distressing images, released by charity Royal Parks, shows the endless ways that rubbish can endanger an animal’s life – from stags suffocating from plastic bags to hedgehogs trapped in deflated balloons.

The coronavirus lockdown has added an extra layer of misery for London’s wildlife, with discarded facemasks and leftover takeaway containers proving to be hazardous to animals.

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Tusk master: Wally the walrus departs Isles of Scilly and heads north

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The Guardian reports after spending the summer wowing British holidaymakers – and sometimes making a nuisance of himself by accidentally sinking boats – Wally the walrus appears to be trying to head home. The British Divers Marine Life Rescue (BDMLR) said on Tuesday that Wally had departed the Isles of Scilly, where he had been in residence since June, and there has been a positive sighting of him in the waters off Ireland. Marine experts hope that the creature is on his way back to the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard between mainland Norway and the North Pole. 

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Bison could one day roam free across UK, say conservationists planning to release first herd for 6,000 years

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I News reports a rewilding project that will bring bison back to the Kent countryside next year could pave the way for free-roaming herds of the animals across the UK within a few decades, conservationists hope.  A small herd of bison will be released into Blean Woods in Kent – the first time they will have lived on the British Isles for more than 6,000 years. They will join Iron Age pigs, longhorn cattle and Exmoor ponies as part of a pioneering rewilding project to restore the ancient tract of woodland. 

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Scottish forests could save red squirrel from extinction

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Photo of grey squirrel by Denis Fournier under Creative commons

The Guardian reports twenty forest strongholds in Scotland would save the red squirrel from extinction even if grey squirrels were to colonise the whole of Britain, according to research.

Grey squirrels have not yet penetrated much of the Highlands but new modelling led by Prof Andy White, a mathematical biologist at Heriot-Watt University, suggests that there are at least 20 havens across Scotland where viable populations of reds would remain even if the greys continued to march northwards. 

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Campaign calls for UK ban on pesticides in gardens and urban areas

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The Guardian reports a leading insect expert has called for a UK-wide ban on the use of pesticides in gardens and urban areas to protect bees, wildlife and human health. Dave Goulson, a professor of biology at the University of Sussex, said outlawing chemical spraying (…) could slow insect decline by creating a network of nature-friendly habitats where insects can recover.

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Britain’s national parks dominated by driven grouse moors, says study

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The Guardian reports national parks supposedly at the heart of efforts to tackle the climate crisis and boost nature are dominated by intensively managed grouse moors, according to new research.

Driven grouse moors, which are associated with the controversial burning of vegetation and the illegal persecution of birds of prey, make up 44% of the Cairngorms national park, 28% of the North York Moors and a fifth of the Peak District, a study by the charity Rewilding Britain has found. A total of 852,000 acres – an area more than twice the size of Greater London – inside Britain’s national parks is devoted to driven grouse shooting.