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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.

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.”

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.

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.

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).

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.”

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".

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.

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.

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.

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.