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Three men have been arrested as part of an investigation into the large-scale, illegal dumping of waste at woodland in Kent.

Two men, aged 44 and 62 and from the Isle of Sheppey, and a 41-year-old man from Sittingbourne, were arrested on Wednesday in connection with the dumping at Hoads Wood, near Ashford, the Environment Agency (EA) said.

A criminal investigation was launched in 2023 after 30,000 tonnes of household and construction waste, piled 15 feet high in places, was discovered dumped in a large part of the wood, which is designated a site of special scientific interest.

Back in March last year, the Government announced that Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust was set to receive £875,602 funding support to lead an ambitious partnership to enhance, restore and create vital wildlife habitats in the Trent Valley.

Project partners include Canal & River Trust; Derbyshire Wildlife Trust; Gedling Conservation Trust, Nottingham City Council; RSPB; Severn Trent Water and Trent Rivers Trust.

The Thriving in a Wilder Trent project was set up to enhance existing habitats and create new areas of habitats to benefit a range of species from common terns to bitterns and otters across the Trent Valley.

New research from Wildlife and Countryside Link, as part of its Wilder By Design nature-friendly planning reform campaign, has found that just 680 hectares of land offsite and 93 ha on-site has been reported by Local Authorities under the BNG scheme, since the policy's introduction[1]. This is just a fraction (less than 13%) of the 5,428 hectares of habitat Defra estimated was likely to be generated annually by BNG and is less than half the minimum amount of habitat expected to be delivered per year.

BNG was developed as part of the Environment Act and came into force on 12 February last year. The policy requires developers to create or enhance habitat to compensate for any harm to nature from new developments and deliver at least 10% “biodiversity net gain” (measured by the quality, extent, significance and type of habitats created). Developers are able to undertake nature recovery work on-site, or by purchasing credits for off-site habitat enhancements.

A council is proposing to remove the second-best place for nightingales in the UK from its local plan for 1,000 new homes, in a win for community campaigners and environmentalists.

Middlewick Ranges, a former Ministry of Defence firing range on the southern edge of Colchester, is set to be dropped from the city council’s allocated housing sites after councillors heeded a growing array of ecological evidence highlighting its national importance for nature.

According to experts, Middlewick meets or exceeds the criteria for a site of special scientific interest (SSSI) in six categories – for its endangered nightingales, rare barbastelle bats, range of invertebrates, rare acid grassland, waxcap fungi and veteran trees.

A FOUR-YEAR project has recorded more than 20,000 butterflies of 28 species in the heart of London.

The scheme also recorded more than 1,200 moths of 150 species in parks, allotments, graveyards and community gardens.

National charity Butterfly Conservation, which launched the Big City Butterflies initiative in 2021, says the results show that wildlife can thrive in towns and cities with the right management and the support of local communities.

Aiming to reverse a nationwide depletion of habitats, and seeking to achieve net zero by 2050, the UK government is using a range of policy initiatives and programmes to invest in our land and water-based environments. To make sure these actions are effective, it’s essential that decision-makers have accurate and up-to-date evidence.

The Natural Capital and Ecosystem Assessment (NCEA) is a Defra-led science and innovation programme, working across both land and water environments. It collects data on the extent, condition and change over time of England’s ecosystems and natural capital and quantifies the benefits to society they provide. Forest Research is at the heart of the programme, collecting data on trees, woodlands and forest habitats, building software solutions and delivering mapping products.

Evidence of the extent of the world’s plastic litter problem is washing up on Guernsey’s beaches with every tide.

But it does not go unnoticed. It is being removed and catalogued. A group of Guernsey beachcombers, united under the Facebook group Found on the Beach in Guernsey, “womble” across the island’s bays on a daily basis and share their evidence with the marine biologist Richard Lord.

He cleans, reinflates and collects plastic water bottles, along with other kinds of waste, in his garden shed at his St Peter Port home, less than half a mile from the sea.

It’s National Nest Box Week (NNBW) next week and Northumberland Wildlife Trust is encouraging everybody to install a nest box in their area and give the region’s precious birds a home.

National Nest Box Week, celebrated each year from 14 - 21 February, is an initiative designed to encourage people to help provide homes for birds by putting up nest boxes in gardens, on balconies, in parks, and in open spaces.

As the natural nest sites on which many of our birds depend, such as holes in trees and buildings, are fast disappearing and gardens and woods are ‘tidied’ and old houses are repaired, more and more birds are relying on humans for help.

In the green acres of a big country manor, a group of rangers and volunteers are searching for two rewilding beavers that have made their second "great escape".

It is believed Woody and Twiggy found their way out of the Mapperton Estate during bad weather that damaged their large enclosure.

The Eurasian pair were introduced to West Dorset from Scotland in 2022 under licence from Natural England, but have not been seen since January 2024.

The latest official statistic report of 66 Scottish terrestrial breeding bird species shows increases for 36 of them between 1994 and 2023, with 23 species indicator results showing decline and seven remaining stable. Woodland birds have seen the largest indicator increase of over 50%. Chiffchaff numbers have increased 1428% - most probably driven by increasing temperatures – as well as great spotted woodpeckers by 699% and blackcap by 593%.

Chaffinches are one of our commonest birds, and a regular species in gardens and woodland, but they have recently declined by 13% in part due to the suspected presence of the bird parasite Trichomonas gallinae, which is linked to unhygienic bird feeding areas. Climate change, evidenced by milder winters, is also contributing to these declines. A decline of 17% in Capercaillie has been linked to death from collisions with fences and potentially a negative effect of rising temperatures from climate change.

However, upland birds have shown the largest declines (-20%). Long-term changes in upland bird populations have been contributed to by several factors, including climate change, forest expansion, and changes in site-based management practices such as grazing and predator control. Curlew breeding numbers have declined over 60%, and changes to land management, climate and food availability are all having an impact. Targeted action is taking place in Scotland to help restore suitable breeding habitats and research is underway to help improve our understanding of the declines.

Following the successful restoration of the River Leven, an ambitious new project is underway to breathe life back into one of Fife’s cherished waterways.

Partners Fife Council, SEPA (Scottish Environment Protection Agency), and Fife Coast and Countryside Trust are joining forces to restore a 5.8-kilometre stretch of the Back Burn – also known locally as the Conland, Coul, and Balbirnie Burn – between Rhind Hill in the Lomond Hills and Newton, just north of Markinch.

The Restoring the Back Burn project, a vital part of the wider Leven Programme, aims to return this historically significant waterway to a more natural state.

Animal welfare campaigners are urging the Government to end the use of snares in England after polling suggests the public would support a ban.

Certain types of the hunting devices, which catch animals such as foxes and rabbits around the neck like a lasso, are legal in England but not Scotland or Wales.

Labour pledged to ban snares in England in its general election manifesto last year.