An air raid shelter that once protected families from bombs during World War Two has been turned into a haven for wildlife including birds, insects and hedgehogs.

Plot holders at Brookfield Allotment have planted a wildflower garden on the roof of the bunker and installed shelters and drinking stations for insects and animals beside it.

Work at the site in Urmston, Greater Manchester, has been made possible with the help of local businesses.

The story of Sorrel the hen harrier is an exceptional one.

Ringed and satellite tagged on Langholm Moor in south Scotland a decade ago, simply by surviving and still being trackable she is a most unusual bird.

Natural England records show that the majority of her peers have either died, been killed or are categorised as "missing - fate unknown".

It is a warm but windy evening in East Sussex and we are on the hunt for glow worms.

As the sun sets on the Benfield Hill Nature Reserve, just outside Hove, a distinct green glimmer starts to flicker in the chalk grasslands.

This site is hailed as a "stronghold" for glow worms in Sussex and with the insects' summer breeding season well under way, conservationists say they have spotted 60 glowing females on one evening at the reserve.

In the recent summer heatwave, a number of unusual, exciting animals have been spotted in the Brighton and Hove waters.

Almost three-quarters of riverbanks in England have no public access, according to data released by the Right to Roam campaign.

Across the country, the public cannot use riverbanks or gain access to the rivers themselves in most of the river catchments from the west of Cornwall up to the Tweed, which flows through northern England and Scotland.

Lewis Winks, an environmental social scientist from Right to Roam, who led the research, said: “Access to rivers should be a basic right, yet the vast majority remain off limits. As we continue to experience extreme heat, it’s vital the public are able to draw from the benefits that water brings.”

Hundreds of species have been found living on former farmland bought by a charity following a £1.5m appeal.

The Wildlife Trust for Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire took ownership of Strawberry Hill in 2024.

The 377-acre (152-hectare) site between Kettering and Bedford has now been found to contain half of Bedfordshire's nightingales, as well as 11 bat species and 50 species of moss.

Parts of Cornwall's coastline have become an important refuge for one of England's rarest bumblebees, conservationists have said.

The Bumblebee Conservation Trust said the Moss Carder bumblebee is now found in only a handful of locations after disappearing from many parts of the UK where it was once common.

The species survives in a few hotspots, including Penhale near Perranporth, the Lizard and Gwithian Towans.

Frogs; newts; small fish such as minnows and sticklebacks; dragonflies; water boatmen and water snails: these are just a few of the hundreds of animal species that make their homes in Britain’s ponds alongside diverse wetland plants, some of which are endangered. Yet while small bodies of water are cherished by hobbyists as well as scientists, they have startlingly few protections – even at a time when the polluted state of rivers, lakes and coastlines is a key focus of environmentalists.

With a clean water bill expected soon, this official neglect of ponds should soon be consigned to the past. While rewilding projects have overseen the rediscovery of older “ghost ponds” as well as the creation of new, and householders are encouraged to create miniature ones in their gardens, charities including the specialist Freshwater Habitats Trust point to the growing body of international research that testifies to their ecological importance. In 1996 the first-ever national survey estimated that there were 228,900 ponds in Britain. Thirty years on would be an apt moment to grant them enhanced status.

The decline of ponds is part of a wider story of damage to the UK’s waterways by a combination of intensive agriculture, building development, pollution and the failure to manage it. One local study in Leicestershire has found an average 1% species loss every year for 15 years. But unlike rivers, many of which disappeared underground when they were culverted by the Victorians, around two-thirds of ancient ponds in England and Wales have vanished altogether either through drainage or infilling for farmland. When horses were replaced by tractors, it was wrongly thought that these pools had served their purpose.

Scotland's environment watchdog has issued water restrictions to protect rivers in the Borders after prolonged dry conditions led to "significant" scarcity.

The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa) has taken the action in the Whiteadder Water and Berwickshire areas.

It said the restrictions affected 23 licensed water abstractions - primarily supporting agricultural activities - and aimed to protect fish, wildlife and the wider environment.

There’s a slightly mean question I often ask British people with an interest in the living world: can you name the environment secretary? I don’t intend to show them up: it’s not them I’m testing. I watch the brows knit, a finger go up, the mouth open and close. “It’s, you know, the one who … no, they went, didn’t they? That other one …” It’s been like this for seven years.

Why? Because throughout this period, we’ve not had environment secretaries. We’ve had portals through which corporate lobbyists may pass. The last incumbent to represent the wider public interest (and I can scarcely bring myself to type these words) was Michael Gove. In his other roles, he’s widely remembered with loathing and disgust. Out of office, he continues to poison public life, as editor of the Spectator. But in this role, to general astonishment, he placed the public good above special interests.

Standard operating procedure, by contrast, is exemplified by the final acts of the outgoing secretary, whose name, to put you out of your misery, is Emma Reynolds. To give just one example – which could be seen as an embodiment of everything that has gone wrong here – she spent her last weeks in the post trying to remove the brakes on industrial chicken farming.

Rare white-clawed crayfish thrown a lifeline by ambitious national recovery programme

A major new programme to restore and protect England’s rare, white-clawed crayfish is now underway, bringing together conservation organisations, researchers and environmental agencies in the largest coordinated recovery effort ever undertaken for the species.

Led by The Wildlife Trusts, the programme will unite around 40 partner organisations from across England to reverse the dramatic loss of the UK's only native freshwater crayfish.

Approximately a billion tiny plastic nurdles have entered the River Tyne after a “devastating spill”, with the pellets thought to have spread much further than first thought.

Nurdles, which are usually 1mm-5mm in size, act as the raw material to manufacture most plastic products.

On Sunday, the Wind Orca ship collided with the berthed container ship BG Orange at the Port of Tyne, causing damage to a dockside crane and injuring one person.

Ten tenacious trees that have defied gravity, faced the elements and even taken a hit from a cannonball are contending to be crowned the Woodland Trust’s UK Tree of the Year.

The Woodland Trust is inviting people to vote for Tree of the Year 2026, with ten spectacular specimens from across the UK fighting for the title.

This year's competition is about celebrating nature's great survivors, and has been given the theme ‘against the odds’. These arboreal miracles have faced plane crashes, Dutch elm disease, diggers, the English Civil War and cliff edges. But whatever has come their way, they have stood, clung and stayed alive for centuries – even millennia.

A rare black-crowned night heron has been spotted on an estate in the south-west of England where an innovative river “reset” is transforming the area into an oasis for birdlife.

The heron was caught on camera in a jungly corner of the Holnicote Estate, where conservation experts have been restoring the landscape by allowing a river to return to its natural course.

As well as the heron, charismatic birds including white-tailed eagles, white storks and cranes have been seen at the National Trust estate.

Most of the sewage spills into England's waterways in the last two years may have been illegal but gone unpunished, according to new analysis.

UK law states that raw sewage should not be released during "normal" weather conditions, yet until now the regulator has not clarified exactly what that means.

But campaigner Prof Peter Hammond obtained a definition in secret court papers, and said it shows that for more than 80% of the time sewage was being spilled, the weather was "normal" - making the spills possibly illegal.

Thurrock Council has voted to scrap a climate emergency declaration.

The decision by the Reform UK-led authority overturns a commitment to net-zero policies made in 2019, and follows a similar move by Essex County Council.

At a meeting on Wednesday, George Monk, a Reform councillor, insisted it was not about rejecting climate change.

Orcas, Risso's dolphins, basking sharks and sunfish are among the spectacular marine species recently spotted around the coast, as The Wildlife Trusts launches National Marine Week to celebrate and protect the wildlife found in UK waters.

From orcas and Risso’s dolphins to basking sharks and sunfish, remarkable sightings around the coast in recent weeks showcase the rich diversity of marine wildlife found in UK waters as millions of people head to the coast this summer.

The sightings come as The Wildlife Trusts launches National Marine Week (25th July – 9th August), which explores the incredible journeys made by marine wildlife that live in or visit UK waters, and highlights the importance of protecting the connected seas, rivers and oceans these species depend on.

A "butterfly city" has been created in the shadow of office blocks and a shopping centre.

Ten species of butterfly have been spotted in a "mini meadow" in Hull city centre, according to a wildlife group.

Grass and wild flowers have been allowed to grow on part of a site owned by the Land Registry, near St Stephen's Shopping Centre.

For years, volunteers have craned their necks and tested their patience to peer into the crevices of the cliffs hoping for a glimpse of fluffy joy.

Finally it all paid off as a puffling – baby puffin – poked its way into the sunshine, becoming the first to be spotted on the coast of Dorset in southern England for three decades.

“Seeing the puffling was a great thrill,” said the marine ornithologist Richard Caldow. “Every chick matters. One puffling alone won’t save this colony but one is a whole lot better news than none.”

England’s ‘tree deserts’ need more trees to tackle soaring temperatures in towns and cities, according to a new report by the Woodland Trust.

Shading from trees can reduce surface temperatures by more than 10°C, but 11 million people in the UK currently live in tree deserts – defined as having less than 10% tree cover.

The new report from the UK’s largest woodland conservation charity highlights the positive effects of trees on climate, flooding, air pollution, health and wellbeing, but reveals that the most economically disadvantaged communities often live in areas worst affected by low tree cover.

Lancashire Wildlife Trust are urging residents and visitors to take immediate action following the confirmation of a squirrel pox outbreak in Formby, warning that the coming weeks could be critical for one of England's most important remaining red squirrel strongholds.

A squirrel pox outbreak has now been confirmed in Formby, raising fears for a population that has already suffered devastating losses. During the last major outbreak in 2008, Formby's red squirrel population fell by an estimated 80%.

Carried without symptoms by invasive, non-native grey squirrels, squirrel pox can spread unnoticed before reaching vulnerable red squirrel populations. For red squirrels, the disease is fatal, causing shivering and painful lesions that make it increasingly difficult to eat, move, and see. Most succumb to the illness within just two weeks.

Falcons nesting high on the skyline, foxes working the night streets and, in the suburbs, beavers building dams. Some of London's least-noticed residents are all around you, and a new campaign wants you to start looking.

London Wildlife Trust is using humour, wordplay and familiar London stereotypes to highlight the wild animals surviving in one of the world's busiest cities.

It says up to 50 pairs of peregrine falcons now nest on some of the capital's highest and most iconic buildings.

Such wildlife has adapted well to city life but remains under growing pressure, the Trust says.

Five osprey chicks at Foulshaw Moss Nature Reserve, four females and one male, were recently tagged and weighed by a licenced and experienced bird ringer, and given a coloured ID leg ring.

This is a record number of osprey chicks to be tagged in one year at our wetland nature reserve near Witherslack. Previously the highest number of osprey chicks in one season at Foulshaw Moss was three.

The increase in numbers is down to the fact that there are now two pairs of breeding ospreys at Foulshaw Moss Nature Reserve. There are two chicks on nest 1 (the long-standing pair Blue 35 and White YW, who started breeding here in 2014) and three chicks on nest 2, which is occupied by the more recent pair, Blue 717 and her mate Blue 476, who first bred here last year.

England’s Community Forests network has today announced the continuation of its flagship Trees for Climate programme, marking the milestone with the launch of a significant new partnership maximising the benefits of community-led urban and rural woodland creation across the country.

Funded by UK Government through the national Defra Trees Programme, Trees for Climate will be taken to new heights by a partnership combining the rich placed-based knowledge and relationships of England’s Community Forests network, the scale and experience of the National Trust and Woodland Trust as national organisations, and the supporting, enabling and championing role of the Community Forest Trust.

As the new prime minister begins his first week in office, new polling commissioned by WWF has revealed that a majority of Britons believe the Government is failing to do enough to protect nature and tackle the climate crisis.

The findings come as the UK reels from a series of extreme heatwaves that have laid bare the growing human and environmental cost of climate change. The recent heat is estimated to have contributed to more than 2,000 deaths, closed schools and sparked wildfires that threaten wildlife and habitats across the country.

The poll, conducted by More in Common, found that 76% of people care about nature, climate and the environment, but 61% believe that politicians do not care much or at all about these issues. The findings point to growing public dissatisfaction with the government’s environmental record, with a majority (57%) saying the government isn't doing enough to protect nature and the climate.