There's no way to visit Long Nanny Nature Reserve without a walk on a stunning Northumberland beach first. Approach from the north, and you'll take the stunning curve at Beadnell, recently voted one of the UK's best.

From the south, wander through the dunes from Newton Steads Car Park onto Link House Beach, far enough away from Beadnell to be almost empty, yet still connected. A little over halfway and there's a fenced off area with a few chalkboards - that's the start of the Long Nanny tern colony.

Schools and community groups on the Isle of Man have been given the tools to create flower strips to support pollinating insects as part of a drive by a conservation group.

The Make Space for Nature scheme by the Manx Wildlife Trust (MWT) encourages residents to transform outdoor spaces and make them "more wildlife-friendly".

Sewn in five locations across the island, the flower beds have used a blend of seeds to ensure a "maximum benefit to wildlife", the trust said.

The head of an environmental charity fears Atlantic salmon are at risk of extinction if their young cannot reach the sea.

The Environment Agency has launched a study to look for ways to help the species travel from the River Itchen in Hampshire, to the ocean.

The agency says juvenile salmon in Southampton, known as smolts, are struggling to get past barriers in the river, which is contributing to population decline.

The RSPB is encouraging people to sign up to be West Midlands Swift Champions, to help record species numbers and ensure they have places to nest.

It comes as the number of swifts has declined by more than 60% in the last 25 years, the charity says.

Volunteers who join the project will conduct swift surveys, engage with communities, attend events and respond to planning applications to see where nesting sites could be implemented.

Rare butterfly hits purple patch at Sussex rewilding project

Ecologists say 283 purple emperor recordings on one day at Knepp signal higher numbers nationwide Elsie McDowell Fri 4 Jul 2025 17.00 BST

A conservation project in West Sussex has had its best day on record for rare purple emperor butterfly sighting, and ecologists say they are confident the species is doing well nationally.

Purple emperor populations steadily declined over the course of the 20th century but they have been slowly recolonising the landscape at Knepp since 2001, when Isabella Tree and her husband, Charlie Burrell, decided to turn the stretch of former farmland into a “process-led” rewilding project.

Ecologists at Knepp recorded 283 purple emperors on 1 July alone. Since the site boasts the UK’s largest population of the butterflies, the ecologists said they were confident the numbers were high nationwide.

Conservationists working to protect a population of seahorses off the Dorset coast have counted the highest number of the creatures since the Covid pandemic.

The absence of boats and people in Studland Bay during lockdown meant seahorse numbers peaked in 2020 but quickly diminished when restrictions were eased.

Volunteers regularly monitor the habitat to assess the impact of eco-moorings, which have been installed to stop boat anchors damaging the seagrass habitat.

University of Oxford researchers have led a new study which found that hedgerows, small copses and even individual trees can significantly increase the number of butterflies in farmed landscapes. The findings have been published today in the journal Ecological Solutions and Evidence.

The study, carried out by the University of Oxford and national charity Butterfly Conservation, funded by The Woodland Trust, comes at a critical time for butterfly species. Recent data revealed that 2024 was one of the worst years for butterfly numbers across the UK, with more than half of species in long-term decline for the first time on record. In the new study, the researchers found that having more hedgerows and trees in the landscape increased numbers of butterflies found in the countryside such as Speckled Wood, Gatekeeper, Meadow Brown, Ringlet and Comma. Hedgerows, small woodlands and trees were especially important for butterflies in more arable landscapes.

The researchers are now calling for farmers and landowners to get better support to maintain such valuable natural assets on their land.

Britain’s historic meadows are living archives of our cultural, farming and natural heritage – every bit as significant as historic buildings or monuments. Yet these irreplaceable habitats are vanishing at an alarming rate, now covering just 0.8% of England’s land in tiny fragments, totaling an area of around half of Cornwall (406 square miles).

Today, on the eve of National Meadows Day (5 July), conservation charity Plantlife is urging the public to demand urgent action to safeguard what remains of irreplaceable meadows —before they are lost forever.

“No one would consider knocking down the Houses of Parliament and rebuilding it elsewhere,” said Nicola Hutchinson, Deputy Chief Executive and Director of Conservation, Plantlife. “Yet nature is being bulldozed by bricks and mortar in today’s political priorities, on the false promise of it being replaced in another location. You cannot recreate decades of ecological richness – these grasslands are irreplaceable – once they’re gone, they’re gone forever.”

Some farms in England could be taken entirely out of food production under plans to make more space for nature, the environment secretary has said.

Speaking at the Groundswell farming festival in Hertfordshire, Steve Reed said a revamp of post-Brexit farming subsidies and a new land use plan would be aimed at increasing food production in the most productive areas and decreasing or completely removing it in the least productive. In reality, this means many upland farmers may be incentivised to stop farming.

He said his land use framework “envisions taking some of the least productive land out of food production, but supporting the more productive land to increase production”.

Hazel dormice have been released into Leicestershire parkland after vets gave the miniature mammals a clean bill of health.

Since June, more than 20 dormice have been living in open cages in a secret location at Bradgate Park, near Newtown Linford.

On Wednesday, vets from London Zoo and Twycross Zoo assessed the health of the dormice before they were released into the wider park.

A decade-long nature-friendly farming project has helped to increase the diversity and abundance of wildlife across farmland and prompted the return of rare species such as the butterfly orchid and red-listed birds such as the nightingale.

The Jordans Farm Partnership between The Wildlife Trusts, Jordans Cereals and LEAF (Linking Environment And Farming), has seen 27 farms across England develop bespoke conservation plans to help improve wildlife habitat on their farm. This includes creating features like hedgerows, field margins and ponds, and improving habitat connectivity with neighbouring landowners.

Since the partnership began in 2015, over half the participating farmers say they have seen new or returning species, many of which are endangered and of conservation concern, including birds appearing on the UK’s Red List for Birds such as tree sparrow, nightingale and goshawk, and the rare plant meadow clary, which is only found at 26 sites across the UK. Other success stories include the return of breeding stone curlew in Hampshire, scarce emerald damselfly in Suffolk and brown hare in Leicestershire.

Farming methods that support nature improve both biodiversity and crop yields, but more extensive measures may require increased government subsidies to become as profitable as conventional intensive agriculture. That is the finding of the first comprehensive on‐farm trials of their kind in the UK, which were led by the UK Center for Ecology & Hydrology (UKCEH) and Rothamsted Research.

The study is published in the Journal of Applied Ecology.

This four‐year study across 17 conventional, commercial farms in southern England not only trialed various agroecological methods but also—for the first time—the financial viability for businesses.