GreyShuck

Beavers can now be released under a new government license scheme, meaning wild beavers living in our rivers and streams for the first time in 400 years.

So, what will this mean for the natural world?

The National Farmers Union is concerned that their chewing and flooding of land could impact agriculture.

But pioneering trial schemes that have been running in the South East of England could hold the key to keeping everyone happy and using the beavers as 'ecosystem engineers'.

A straight-backed, well-spoken former management consultant and ex-soldier in a wax jacket might not resemble much of a tree wizard, but the man leading me into a steep Cornish valley of gnarled, mossy oaks is called Merlin. He possesses hidden depths. And surfaces. Within minutes of meeting, as we head towards the Mother Tree – a venerable oak of special significance – Merlin Hanbury-Tenison reveals that he recently had a tattoo of the tree etched on his skin. I’m expecting him to roll up a sleeve to reveal a mini-tree outline, but he whips out his phone and shows me a picture: the 39-year-old’s entire back is covered with a spectacular full-colour painting of the oak. “It took 22 hours. I was quite sore,” he says, a little ruefully. “But I was in London afterwards, feeling quite overcome by the city and I had this moment: I’ve got the rainforest with me. Wherever I go, I feel like I’m carrying the forest and its story with me.”

Merlin is keen to tell the remarkable 5,000-year story of this fragment of Atlantic temperate rainforest – a rare habitat found in wet and mild westerly coastal regions and which is under more threat than tropical rainforests. In fact, he is now the custodian of this special, nature-rich landscape filled with ferns, mosses, lichens and fungi. He is slightly more reticent about his own remarkable life. Both stories are well worth telling.

Cabilla, a 250-acre hill-farm on the edge of Bodmin Moor, was bought in 1960 by his dad, the explorer Robin Hanbury-Tenison. He wanted a place where he wouldn’t hear traffic and could drink from the stream. The call of a song thrush, not traffic noise, fills the valley to this day and Robin, now approaching 89, still drinks from the stream. Merlin has taken over the farm and has conjured up three big visions: he wants to expand the less-than-1% fragment of Atlantic rainforest that endures in western Britain; he hopes to demonstrate that a new kind of hill-farming is viable and employs local people; he also seeks to open up such forests to those who need them the most – the traumatised, the broken and stressed urbanites who don’t even realise they can thrive if they take time beneath an ancient tree, imbibe the smell of damp leaves and listen to the river dancing over the ferny rocks below.

The government has said it will “clean up Windermere” after criticism over the volume of sewage being pumped into England’s largest lake.

The environment secretary, Steve Reed, pledged “only rainwater” would enter the famous body of water in the Lake District, putting an end to the situation where it Windermere was being “choked by unacceptable levels of sewage pollution”.

Reed highlighted a range of measures being put in place, including investment from the water company United Utilities. The company, which has been a major polluter of the Unesco world heritage site, recently conceded defeat in its legal efforts to block the public from accessing data related to how much sewage it was dumping into the lake.

Millions of pounds of fines imposed on water firms will fund environmental schemes to protect the country’s waterways after fears the money would be diverted to the Treasury.

The water restoration fund was set up by the Conservative government to ensure that polluting water firms paid for the damage they caused. The fund received £11m in fines and penalties from April 2022 to October 2023.

It was reported in January that the Treasury was looking to keep money earmarked for projects across the country. River trusts have submitted bids to improve and monitor the health of a number of rivers, including the River Derwent in Derbyshire and the River Waveney on the Norfolk-Suffolk border.

Volunteers who are passionate about maintaining the Isle of Man's biosphere status are being sought to help guide its progress ahead of a ten-year review.

In 2016 the island became the first entire island nation to be granted the title by Unesco and the heritage body will undertake a periodic review in 2026.

Biosphere Isle of Man are on the hunt for individuals to join its board to contribute to the island's "journey towards a more sustainable future".

Chairman Jason Bissell the organisation was looking for people to "help guide our important work" and ensure it continues to benefit the community, environment and economy.

WILTSHIRE Council has launched a public consultation on its strategy for protecting nature in the county.

Residents, landowners, and organisations are invited to help shape the future of nature's recovery across Wiltshire and Swindon.

The six-week consultation offers the public a chance to review and provide feedback on the draft strategy, which will map out priority habitats, key species, and practical measures to expand, restore, and connect important natural resources across the region.

A major shake-up of local councils in Norfolk and Suffolk is a "once in a generation" chance to secure money to breathe new life into rivers and to restore nature, charity bosses say.

Nature organisations say the creation of new councils and a mayor for the two counties needs to go hand in hand with cash and powers to protect habitats at risk and to clean up rivers.

Bosses at Norfolk Wildlife Trust, Suffolk Wildlife Trust, Norfolk Rivers Trust, the River Waveney Trust and the RSPB, have sent an open letter to council leaders, MPs and local government minister Jim McMahon urging nature to be an integral part of the new set-up.

Over 900 mature native oysters (Ostrea edulis) have been suspended in 30 purpose-built cages over the edges of Carrickfergus Marina’s pontoons to help revive the species.

Led by local nature conservation charity Ulster Wildlife in partnership with Mid and East Antrim Borough Council, the restoration initiative could see up to 900 million oyster larvae released into surrounding waters every year. In addition to supporting the expansion of wild populations, the oysters will help boost biodiversity and improve water quality by filtering pollutants.

Carrickfergus was once the heart of Belfast Lough’s thriving native oyster industry in the 1850s, home to the world-famous Carrick oyster. However, a combination of overfishing and disease led to their disappearance from Belfast Lough and beyond.

A Scottish accountant has captured hundreds of hours of footage of wildlife on a city centre river while recovering from knee replacement surgery.

Tom Kelly's remarkable recordings include otters and their cubs, kingfishers and herons in their natural habitat on Edinburgh's Water of Leith.

He began documenting the wildlife in January 2021, after doctors advised him to walk as much as possible to aid his rehabilitation.

The 60-year-old has since walked 5,000 miles and made a full recovery while gathering the film.

A woman who "married" the River Avon as part of a campaign for clean water, has said she hopes the relationship remains "sustainable".

Megan Ruth-Trump took part in the ceremony in Bristol in 2023 to raise awareness of untreated sewage being pumped into waterways.

She said the marriage had inspired her to write poetry and use creativity to make people more passionate about keeping the river clean.

"The wedding inspired me to quit my job and focus on campaigning and writing," Ms Ruth-Trump said.

Cat Marfell, the volunteer administrator at Gloucestershire Toads on Roads, said there are now more than 35 patrols taking place at spots across the county.

Migration season, which occurs any time between January and April, sees toads, frogs, and newts travel to water to breed.

"It's been quite warm and we were out patrolling in February, and then it's not really been warm again until Wednesday," Ms Marfell said.

Somerset Wildlife Trust, along with the Diocese of Bath and Wells, has launched this year's Wilder Churches, with special online workshops planned.

Started in 2021, the scheme has supported more than 100 communities to take action in their local spaces for nature.

Methods used in some churches include making planters bee-friendly, or adjusting how the yards are mowed.