GreyShuck

• Chester Zoo’s milestone Welsh restoration project won against 22 other native species projects for the coveted Great British Wildlife Restoration Award.

• The competition saw over 80 parliamentarians vote for native species projects, from beaver reintroductions to community waterway restoration, all led by British zoos and aquariums.

• The winner, voted by politicians, was announced at a special parliamentary reception hosted by the Speaker of the House of Commons Sir Lindsay Hoyle, featuring speeches by Defra Minister Sue Hayman and Shadow Secretary of State for the Environment Victoria Atkins

The first step towards creating a Celtic rainforest – a now extremely rare habitat that once covered large swathes of the west coast of Britain – has been completed in Devon.

More than 2,500 native trees have been planted so far this winter at Devon Wildlife Trust’s Bowden Pillars site, above the Dart valley and close to the green-minded market town of Totnes.

In decades to come, these trees – oak, rowan, alder, hazel, birch, willow and holly – will form a temperate rainforest, sometimes known as a Celtic or Atlantic rainforest.

Water firm river pollution fines must be spent on rivers, MPs to say

Lib Dem Tim Farron seeks law to protect fund as Treasury tries to take control of £11m Sandra Laville Tue 28 Jan 2025 09.53 GMT

Fines from water companies that pollute rivers must be ringfenced by law to be spent on restoring water quality in rivers, MPs will urge.

The Treasury is trying to take control of £11m in fines from water companies, which was intended for small charities to restore rivers, in a move criticised by river restoration campaigners as “appalling”.

In an attempt to protect the water restoration fund, and ensure future fines collected from water companies are used to restore the river environment, the Liberal Democrat MP Tim Farron is seeking an amendment on Tuesday to the water special measures bill in parliament.

In 2021 Rachel Reeves announced her ambition to become ‘Britain’s first green chancellor’ – however, recent announcements on planning and airport expansion put this aspiration in jeopardy. The irony of Rachel Reeves's crusade for growth is that these policies risk undermining the UK’s natural capital – an essential foundation for growth.
Nature is not a blocker to growth

Nature does not block growth – it is the very foundation on which growth is built. Research by PwC found that 47% of the companies on the London Stock Exchange are highly or moderately dependent on nature. The assertion that protecting nature undermines economic growth is simply incorrect; nature is the bedrock upon which the economy is built. The findings of the Dasgupta Review reiterate this view, highlighting the significant economic value of nature.

Healthy ecosystems provide stability for businesses by mitigating risks such as flooding and droughts and filtering pollutants from the air and water; nature provides the stability necessary for business. Beyond these practical benefits, restoring nature also delivers significant well-being and health benefits, which strengthen the foundation for sustainable growth.

Brown hares are the only ‘game’ species in England and Wales that can be shot year-round

When I introduced my first Private Members’ Bill in Parliament last November – aiming to establish a close season for hare shooting in England and Wales – it marked the sixth attempt to introduce such a bill in a decade. Colleagues like Lord Randall, Richard Fuller MP, and former environment secretary George Eustice have previously championed similar efforts to protect pregnant and nursing hares and their dependent leverets during the breeding season.

Some may question the timing of this initiative amid pressing domestic and international issues. However, as someone who deeply values wildlife and biodiversity, I believe that addressing this glaring omission in our wildlife protection laws is crucial. Establishing a close season would incur no costs, while making a significant difference to the welfare of hare populations.

A recent egg count by the Berkshire, Buckinghamshire & Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust (BBOWT) reveals stable numbers of brown hairstreak butterflies on its Oxfordshire site, despite increasing climate and habitat threats.

With Easter still a few months off, the team from BBOWT embarked on its annual egg-hunt tradition, searching for prizes more valuable than chocolate.

The rare brown hairstreak butterfly is found in select areas across the south of Britain, with declining numbers from habitat loss resulting in its Vulnerable designation on the Butterfly Red List. Spending much of its adult life hidden high in hedgerows and in the treetops, this elusive butterfly is monitored by counting its eggs in the winter.

What was thought to be the last bat of its species in the UK may finally have a mate, according to bat experts.

The greater mouse-eared bat (Myotis myotis) was declared extinct in 1992, before a single male was found in a disused railway tunnel in West Sussex in 2002 and another in 2023,

A female of the species has now been spotted in the same area in the South Downs National Park, the first in the wild since the 1980s.

Work is under way in Cornwall to help save a native bird which nature experts have described as "dangerously close to extinction".

The county is one of the last areas in southern England which still has willow tits, according to Natural England (NE).

As part of the project, areas of Goss Moor in mid Cornwall are being managed to create habitat where it is easier for the birds to forage.

Water companies are adopting disinformation tactics similar to those used by the fossil fuel and tobacco industries with the widespread use of greenwashing to downplay the environmental harm they cause, a study says.

Environmental scientists analysed the communications of the nine main water and sewerage companies in England, and compared them with a framework of 28 greenwashing tactics employed, researchers say, by the tobacco, alcohol, fossil fuels and chemical industries.

The water companies have adopted 22 of these tactics to downplay environmental harm, misrepresent information, undermine scientific research, shift blame and delay action, the researchers say.

Plans for a £250m upgrade of a major road network could be disrupted by a butterfly.

Last week, Kent County Council revealed plans to improve the A229 Blue Bell Hill which connects Chatham to Maidstone.

The plans contain a raft of new slip roads and roundabout enhancements, but one of the measures is for an additional lane and a new slip road on the southern-bound carriageway heading to Maidstone.

That would plunge it through the habitat of the Green Hairstreak butterfly.

The Mersey Forest is seeking public input on its new long-term strategy, More With Trees.

It aims to transform Cheshire and Merseyside by increasing tree cover, improving woodlands, and encouraging community involvement in nature-based activities.

The consultation is live until March 2, 2025.

Labour is being warned it is hurtling towards a “powder keg” confrontation with environmentalists, green groups and a swathe of its own supporters in the next few weeks, amid its claims that “blockers” are standing in the way of economic growth.

A flurry of pro-growth measures have been announced by ministers in recent days as part of a government fightback against claims that the economy is stalling.

The drive culminated last week in chancellor Rachel Reeves’s assertion in Davos that economic growth is more important than net zero. She is now on the verge of effectively giving her backing to airport expansion at Heathrow, Gatwick and Luton.