The Environment Bill, currently at the committee stage in the House of Lords, is intended to replace much of the EU environmental legislation following Brexit. It will allow the government to set out long-term targets for the UK’s natural environment. During the latest debate in the House of Lords, Conservative former minister Lord Blencathra sought to...
Where are our garden butterflies?
The cold 2021 spring and early summer seems to have had an impact on some of our garden butterflies – so far in 2021 nearly all of the 13 species, monitored as part of the British Trust for Ornithology’s (BTO) Garden BirdWatch (GBW), are being seen in fewer gardens and are also appearing later than...
Local Sites: Critical to Nature Recovery
There are more Local Wildlife Sites in England than any other kind of terrestrial wildlife designation. They exist equally in our most rural and urban areas and unlike Local Nature Reserves they are designated purely on their importance for biodiversity and exist on the basis that they protect what is most important in the local...
Dr Phil Smith: Wildlife notes June 2021
Following one of the wettest Mays on record, June turned out to be one of the driest, with sparse rainfall on only four days. Fortunately, the damp weather in May and a legacy of the wet winter meant that the impact of the drought on duneland plants was less than it might have been. Nevertheless,...
