Welcome to our nature news round-up for the week ending Friday 27th of October.
1. ‘A joy to watch’: UK rewilding brings endangered species back from brink
Vast expanses of rolling hilltops may be easy on the eye. But look a bit closer and many are in fact bleak landscapes – overgrazed and mostly devoid of diverse natural life. Shortsighted agricultural practices, habitat destruction and factory farming are among the causes of an alarming biodiversity crisis in Britain, where one in six species are in danger of local extinction.
Around the edges, however, local wildlife restoration projects are having an impact. Last year, 3.22% of the UK’s land was deemed to be well protected and managed, according to Wildlife Trusts, a slight increase on 2021, and councils are embracing rewilding. More and more community and private projects appear to be springing up too.
2. Badger cull: Belfast High Court judge quashes Northern Ireland plan – BBC Northern Ireland, 25th October
A high court judge has quashed a decision by the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (Daera) for a badger cull.
A judicial review was brought by the NI Badger Group and Wild Justice.
The legal challenge was granted at the high court on the grounds that the department’s consultation was flawed. Up to £35,000 in legal fees is to be paid by the department to the groups involved.
In March 2022 then agriculture minister Edwin Poots announced a cull as part of a strategy to tackle Bovine Tuberculosis (bTB). The department’s decision was met with dismay from a number of wildlife charities and campaign groups who claimed that allowing farmers to use rifles to kill up to 4,000 badgers a year would be inhumane and ineffective.
The NI Badger Group and Wild Justice claimed that a proper consultation on the strategy of the cull was not carried out, and a judicial review was granted on this basis.
3. New project aims to get urban communities involved in nature – BBC Northern Ireland, 25th October
Newport’s Maindee area, Pwllheli in Gwynedd, and Neyland in Pembrokeshire are part of a new UK-wide initiative announced today, seeking to help local, mostly urban, communities stand up for nature in their neighbourhoods, tackling the global climate and nature crises at a local level.
Three-quarters of people in the UK are worried about the state of nature, yet we are in the bottom 10% of countries globally for protecting it. In March 2023, the People’s Plan for Nature set out recommendations to reverse the UK’s shocking declines in nature, including calls for greater investment in ways to help communities take action to protect and renew nature at a neighbourhood level. The Nature Neighbourhoods project is a direct response to those calls.
4. Pioneering river restoration project completed on military land in Wiltshire – gov.uk, 26th October
A ground-breaking Defence Infrastructure Organisation (DIO) funded project has restored an area of wetland on the River Avon in Wiltshire.
A ground-breaking Defence Infrastructure Organisation (DIO) funded project has restored an area of wetland on the River Avon in West Chisenbury, part of the Salisbury Plain Training Area (SPTA). The ‘first of its kind’, the project is enhancing the biodiversity of the local area by improving the watercourse and natural floodplain, and off-setting nutrient pollution.
The project has restored a 400-metre stretch of the river Avon by putting the river back into the centre of the floodplain along a new channel. Secondary channels have also been created to connect wetlands and ponds and establish wildlife habitats across the river’s floodplain. As well as boosting biodiversity, these new areas of wetland will help to capture nutrient-loaded sediment and carbon.
The restoration will see the new wetland habitats retain water all-year-round, meaning native wetland plants will flourish and wildlife will thrive.
5. Television presenters to host new wildlife show from Dundreggan Rewilding Centre
TELEVISION presenters Chris Packham and Megan McCubbin will be live presenting a week of anarchic and inspiring autumn wildlife programmes from Trees for Life’s Dundreggan Rewilding Centre near Loch Ness in the Highlands from today (23rd October – 26th October).
Chris, Megan and a team of talented young conservationists will be hosting the new 8 Out of 10 Bats nature series via YouTube from 7.30pm-8.30pm each evening.
The hour-long show will feature live segments, topical films by leading wildlife film-makers, hilarious props, and live wildlife cameras, with content from across the UK and plenty of audience participation.
6. Reintroducing wildlife species ‘not a priority’, BBC – 27th October
Bringing species like beavers back to England is no longer a priority, the government said on Friday to criticism from wildlife groups.
In recent years animals and plants have been reintroduced by charities as part of efforts to restore the country’s depleted biodiversity.
A recent report shows that one in six UK species are at risk of extinction. The government said it was focused on habitat restoration and pollution.
In September more than 60 conservation organisations reported a significant decline in species due to expansions in farming and the effects of climate change. Farmers and wildlife charities have take action in recent years to reintroduce extinct or rare species like beavers, ladybird spiders and red kites into England.
Despite the government allowing this, the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee – a group of cross-party MPs – concluded in July that there was an absence of long-term plans on how to manage this.
In response, the government has now said that the “reintroduction of species is not a priority”.
In its letter to the committee – which was made public on Friday – the government said it was focused on increasing biodiversity but through habitat restoration and reducing pressures from pollution. The government’s environment department has come under scrutiny for not doing more to prevent sewage dumping and other forms of pollution in England’s waterways.
7. UK ‘failing to show leadership’ as global deforestation increases – Independent, 24th October
The UK is failing to show leadership to tackle deforestation as the rate of global forest loss accelerated last year, according to an international group of experts.
The 2023 Forest Declaration Assessment, which looks at the state of global deforestation each year, found that it accelerated in 2022 as businesses and governments failed to turn commitments into meaningful action.
The report revealed global forest loss last year was 6.6 million hectares while tropical forest loss was 4.1 million hectares – an area the size of Denmark.
8. Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust begins 100-year rewilding project on former grouse shooting estate in Cairngorms National Park – Raptor Persecution, 26th October
Durrell Reveals Major New Scottish Rewilding Project
An 18,500-acre estate in Perthshire is set to be the home of a 100-year rewilding project managed by Durrell.
The Trust has secured the lease for Dalnacardoch Estate, which sits entirely within the Cairngorms National Park, halfway between Blair Atholl and Dalwhinnie.
This will be Durrell’s first project in Scotland.
The team has a long-term vision to revive the estate by applying its proven techniques to restoring habitats and ecological processes, as well as recovering iconic missing species such as the capercaillie, which is currently facing extinction in Scotland.
Durrell’s scientific approach combines hands-on species management with habitat restoration while working alongside local communities and training conservationists.
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