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

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.

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.

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.”

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.