UK Nature and Environment

HS2's so-called bat tunnel has become a political scapegoat, used to justify rolling back environmental protections. But the real story is very different. The tunnel was not forced by conservationists or wildlife laws - it was a consequence of poor decisions made by HS2 Ltd and approved by parliament. Now, politicians are misrepresenting this history to push the Planning and Infrastructure Bill (PIB), a law that won’t fix planning delays but will put nature at greater risk.

This page breaks down the facts: what the bat tunnel really is, who approved it, and why weakening protections won’t solve the UK’s planning challenges.

They have bright yellow legs, are about 25mm (almost 1in) long, and a single colony, if left unchecked, can “butcher” 90,000 pollinating insects in just one season.

Since the first UK sighting in 2016 of Vespa velutina – the Asian or yellow-legged hornet – beekeepers and scientists have waged a vigorous campaign to minimise the damage this invasive species can do to Britain’s biodiversity and bee colonies.

Last year, a wet spring and washout summer appeared to have hindered the insect’s population growth as the number of nests spotted in the UK dropped from 72 in 2023 to 24 in 2024. But it was also the first year that the National Bee Unit received confirmation, via DNA, that the hornets had successfully bred and over-­wintered in the UK.

For the past three decades Lakenheath Fen Nature Reserve has built a habitat for species that were once considered rare in the UK to breed and and increase in number.

The wetland reserve was created in 1995 when the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) bought the site, which at the time was mainly arable fields.

A mix of reed beds, marshes and woodlands now cover the 1,235-acre (500 hectares) reserve, which is encircled by Suffolk, Cambridgeshire and Norfolk.

As well as talking about guerilla animal releases, this article talks about lots of amazing community rewilding action. I highly recommend it for an uplifting read!

Arriving at the Kidbrooke Village housing development in Greenwich on a morning in early spring, the first thing you notice is the sound of birdsong and the scent of blossom. Geese are gently honking in the distance.

This was once the Ferrier estate, a postwar housing estate that was demolished in 2009 to regenerate the area.

Now the grey, harsh concrete has been replaced by redbrick blocks that sit in a “green corridor” linking Sutcliffe Park in the south with the nature reserves at Kidbrooke Green and London Wildlife Trust’s Birdbrook in the north. Many of the flats overlook new ponds and the expanded wetland of the River Quaggy, which used to flood, putting local businesses and property at risk. While some planning applications elsewhere have been halted because the developers did not survey for bats or consider rare newts, this development has incorporated nature throughout, with bat boxes hanging from trees, and wetlands for newts directly next to the blocks of flats.

National Mammal Week, brought to you by the Mammal Society, is a celebration of Britain’s mammals and an opportunity to raise awareness of the challenges they face.

One in four UK mammals are threatened with extinction, with many others in decline. The British Isles are home to many species of mammal, from the tiny pygmy shrew to the giant fin whale. And yet, mammals are some of the most under-recorded species in Britain.

From April 21st to 27th, the conservation sector, volunteers and nature-lovers come together to celebrate these remarkable creatures and raise awareness about their conservation.

A council leader has said an investigation into a cyanide spill in Walsall Canal cannot result in just "measly words".

Leader of Walsall Metropolitan Borough Council Garry Perry said the ongoing Environment Agency (EA) probe of events at Anachrome Ltd, the firm to which the spill was traced, needed to lead to a comprehensive conclusion.

"We always talk about lessons being learnt but they are only learnt if actions are taken that are meaningful to prevent it happening again," he said.

Butterflies, birds, insects and lizards are among the many species negatively affected by a spate of recent wildfires on the Mourne Mountains.

There have been almost 300 such fires in Northern Ireland since 3 April.

The Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service said many were started deliberately.

Fewer starlings than ever have been spotted by participants in the RSPB’s Big Garden Birdwatch, raising fears for their numbers.

The bird conservation charity is urging Britain’s gardeners to keep their lawns wild by not cutting them too often, and to avoid the use of pesticides, which reduce the number of insects to eat and can poison birds.

Sparrows remained top of the chart of birds seen by the 600,000 people in the UK who took part in the survey, followed by the blue tit and the wood pigeon. The starling fell to fourth for the first time since the annual survey started in 1979.

Why did the toad cross the road? To get to the other side, of course. But also, to reproduce.

Nearly 4,000 toads, frogs and newts have been rescued as they tried to cross one of only five roads closed for the migration season in the UK each year to reach a breeding lake on the other side.

The patrol of Charlcombe Lane, near Bath, has recorded more than 50,000 toads, frogs and newts in the last 22 years on a half-mile stretch.

Derbyshire Wildlife Trust’s vision to restore habitats and rewild spaces for people and nature across the Trent Valley in Derbyshire has galloped ahead following the success of the Call of the Wild project.

The project, kickstarted with almost £330,000 in funding from the National Highways Network for Nature Programme, has reinstated the actions of missing wild herbivores across six sites managed by the Trust. The aim being to create, restore and connect spaces for nature, and encourage wildlife to thrive.

The wetlands and low grassland along the River Trent currently provide some habitat for wildlife, but represent a significant opportunity to create a richer ecosystem for the species that depend on them.

The project at the 292-hectare (721-acre) High Fen site in Methwold, Norfolk, is being undertaken by a private company called Nattergal.

It will be paid for by selling units of biodiversity net gain (BNG) to developers whose projects fail to meet a government target to boost nature.

Matt Hay, natural capital project manager at Nattergal, said the company used private investment to buy degraded land - unsuitable for agriculture - and restore it.

The heads of 32 UK nature organisations have written to the government warning that the planning bill “throws environmental protection to the wind”.

The planning and infrastructure bill, which is at committee stage in parliament, aims to streamline regulations for developers so they can speed up their projects.

Nature bosses have written to the environment and housing secretaries warning that the bill is “one-sided” and could allow developers to ignore environmental protections.

A conservation project has secured nearly £100,000 towards removing every hedgehog from a group of islands in the Western Isles.

The animals are not native to the Hebrides and are blamed for eating the eggs of ground-nesting birds, causing severe declines of several species.

A new project - Saving Uist Nature (SUN) - would trap hedgehogs in South Uist and Benbecula and release them on mainland Scotland.

Spring has arrived and the search for Scotland’s elusive oil beetles is on! Conservation charity, Buglife Scotland, is calling for public help to find these fascinating creatures.

Since launching in 2023, Buglife’s Scottish Oil Beetle Hunt has gathered over 300 records, with more than 100 coming through the Species on the Edge partnership programme, leading to exciting new Scottish oil beetle discoveries.

“New sites for oil beetles are found every year, and every record helps us better understand these amazing beetles,” says Sally Morris, Buglife Species on the Edge Conservation Officer. “Have you spotted a shiny black beetle that might be an oil beetle? Send us a photo and help us learn more about these charismatic beetles in Scotland.”

More than 125,000 wildflowers were planted and 159 acres (64 hectares) of grasslands have been restored in two years, a wildlife trust has said.

Cumbria Wildlife Trust said more than 1,000 volunteers had "tirelessly worked" on several projects across the region from April 2023 to March 2025.

Wildflower seeds were sown in places including road verges, farmlands, burial grounds and cycle routes in areas including Eden, the Lake District and South Cumbria.

Water quality along the stretch of the River Thames which will host the iconic Oxford v Cambridge Boat Race has been classified as poor by clean water campaigners, as a result of E coli from sewage pollution.

Testing carried out along the four-mile route, which the university rowing teams will tackle on Sunday, has revealed E coli levels which are three times above the threshold for poor bathing water status.

When a site is classified as “poor”, the Environment Agency advises against bathing due to the risk to human health.

Wildlife conservation charity People’s Trust for Endangered Species (PTES) is calling for volunteers across England, Scotland and Wales to survey for water voles this spring as part of ongoing national efforts to save this endearing yet endangered species before it’s too late.

Emily Luck, Water Vole Officer at People’s Trust for Endangered Species explains: “Water voles hold the unfortunate title of Britain’s fastest declining mammal and are listed as Endangered on the Red List for Britain’s Mammals, reflecting the seriousness of their decline. Since the 1970s populations have plummeted by an alarming 90% because of habitat loss, fragmentation, and predation from non-native American mink.”

“Water voles desperately need our help, but thankfully people in all corners of Britain can do just that by surveying a nearby stream, river, ditch or canal between 15th April – 15th June and telling us what they find. The results show how populations are changing, where water voles remain and where they’ve been lost. This is crucial as it allows us to understand how we can help by restoring degraded rivers, improving connectivity between wetlands and controlling invasive American mink.”

An "iconic" bird with a noticeable hairdo is on the red list for conservation after numbers have more than halved since 1967 - could farmers help bring them back?

Peewit is the traditional name for the northern lapwing, or green plover, or - if you like your Latin - Vanellus Vanellus, meaning little fan, a reference to the sound when it flies.

"It's very similar to their sound, their call. Peewit as they go off in the mornings," explained Sid Vincent, a gamekeeper working for a local farmer.

The Scottish government has used a legal power for the first time to force the owners of a Highland estate to cull red deer on their land.

The compulsory deer management control scheme could see Scotland's nature agency, NatureScot, step in to reduce numbers of the animals on Loch Choire Estate in Sutherland.

There are concerns grazing by deer is damaging mossy peatland called blanket bog at four sites of special scientific interest (SSSI).

Europe’s first research station for the study of Atlantic temperate rainforest is set to be built beside an ancient wood in Cornwall.

The Thousand Year Trust charity is crowdfunding an initial amount to build the £750,000 facility, which will enable students and academics to study this historically overlooked but biodiverse natural habitat.

The research station, which has planning permission, will be built at Cabilla, a former Cornish hill farm on Bodmin Moor that has become a retreat centre and rainforest restoration project with a swath of ancient woodland at its heart.

Beavers that were reintroduced to a county for the first time in more than 400 years are "settling in really well", a conservationist said.

The large rodents were brought to a 17-hectare (42 acre) fenced enclosure at Rushden Lakes in Northamptonshire in February.

The family of eight, including adult female Boudicca, adult male Alan, and their six young, known as kits, were moved down from Scotland.

Prymnesium algal blooms can occur on the Broads and produce toxins that threaten fish stocks, local biodiversity, and East Anglia’s thriving angling industry, which contributes more than £100 million annually to the local economy.

The golden algae Prymnesium parvum is therefore of significant research interest to prevent environmental incidents and associated fish mortalities from occurring.

Researchers at UEA are working to better understand the environmental, chemical and biological conditions that trigger these Prymnesium blooms and find solutions to prevent their harmful impact.

Cornwall Wildlife Trust says the spate of recent moorland and heath fires is having a "serious impact" on wildlife.

It comes after a number of fires on moorland near Millpool, Temple, Bolventor and Blisland over the weekend.

Cornwall Fire and Rescue Service said the fires were putting "unnecessary strain on already stretched resources".

The UK is known for its national parks: areas of outstanding natural beauty with rolling hills and crystal-clear streams and lakes. But research has shown that England’s most protected rivers are full of pharmaceuticals.

In episode one of a two-part series, biodiversity reporter Phoebe Weston tells Madeleine Finlay about the problem of chemical pollution in our waterways, and how it could be contributing to what the World Health Organization has described as ‘the silent pandemic’ – antimicrobial resistance.