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Levels even lower than in severe drought year of 2022, data shows, with water firms urged to ‘be proactive’
England’s reservoirs are at their lowest levels for a decade, new data reveals, as experts urge water companies to immediately put hosepipe bans in place.
In June, reservoirs across the country were 76% full, which is below their level in the severe drought year of 2022 when they were at 77% capacity at this time in the summer.
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Farmers are seeking ways to fend off birds who are stirring up soil in flooded paddy fields in Ferrara province
An unusual bird is ravaging crops and infuriating farmers in north-eastern Italy: the flamingo.
Flamingos are relatively recent arrivals in the area, and have settled into the flooded fields that produce rice for risotto in Ferrara province, between Venice and Ravenna.
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Ynys Môn (Anglesey): Their energy was breathtaking, their display thrilling – though this was also a purposeful signal of their fitness
Eventide, and calm waters were slowly departing the warm sands of a small bay in Ynys Môn. The dark igneous rocks that bound the bay had retained some midsummer heat, providing a comfortable vantage point to enjoy the sunset. In the shallows, a lone spectator watched the deep pink of the sea. My eyes followed hers and landed on two grey seals, their heads implanted in the iridescent waters. They watched, we watched, then they lazily slipped below, hardly a ripple raised.
Enter the Risso’s dolphins. A pod of four surfaced stage left, injecting the scene with breathtaking energy; their stout, torpedo-shaped, pale grey bodies surging forth, tall dark dorsal fins ripping the limpid sea apart. One after another, they breached clear of the water, their power and scale full blown, heightened by the intimacy of the bay. A thrilling display – but also, scientifically, a purposeful, non-verbal signal of their intrinsic fitness to potential mates and competitors. In midsummer, Risso’s migrate from the pelagic deeps into the relatively shallow shelf waters of the Celtic Sea, perhaps providing more opportunities for social interactions.
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Exclusive: 110 of 117 bodies of water tested by Environment Agency would fail standards, with levels in fish 322 times the planned limit
Nearly all rivers, lakes and ponds in England tested for a range of Pfas, known as “forever chemicals”, exceed proposed new safety limits and 85% contain levels at least five times higher, analysis of official data reveals.
Out of 117 water bodies tested by the Environment Agency for multiple types of Pfas, 110 would fail the safety standard, according to analysis by Wildlife and Countryside Link and the Rivers Trust.
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Scientists say Perito Moreno, which for decades defied trend of glacial retreat, now rapidly losing mass
One of the few stable glaciers in a warming world, Perito Moreno, in Santa Cruz province, Argentina, is now undergoing a possibly irreversible retreat, scientists say.
Over the past seven years, it has lost 1.92 sq km (0.74 sq miles) of ice cover and its thickness is decreasing by up to 8 metres (26 ft) a year.
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Worst-case scenario of 4.3C of warming could result in fiftyfold rise in heat-related deaths, researchers say
More than 30,000 people a year in England and Wales could die from heat-related causes by the 2070s, scientists have warned.
A new study calculates that heat mortality could rise more than fiftyfold in 50 years because of climate heating. Researchers at UCL and the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine compared different potential scenarios, looking at levels of warming, measures to mitigate and adapt to the climate crisis, regional climatic differences and potential power outages. They also modelled the ageing population.
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Woodland Trust’s 10 nominees from across the country highlight how trees inspire creative minds
A cedar tree climbed by the Beatles, an oak that may have inspired Virginia Woolf and a lime representing peace in Northern Ireland are among those shortlisted for tree of the year 2025.
Voting opens on Friday for the Woodland Trust’s annual competition, which aims to celebrate and raise awareness of rare, ancient or at-risk trees across the UK.
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In the fourth part of a series, we look at how climate orthodoxy is coming under fire in Lincolnshire
In early summer the wide open fields of Lincolnshire seem to expand beneath even larger clear blue skies. Travel north through the breadbasket of Britain towards the North Sea, from Grantham to Grimsby, and farming gives way to factories, refineries and the Humber docks. Each sector tells a story of Britain’s industrial decline: the demise of heavy industry on the banks of the Humber, the closure of coal power plants, fishing fleets decimated by the cod wars of the 1970s and 80s.
Lincolnshire is at the heart of the government’s plan for the greatest economic step-change since the Industrial Revolution: a green re-industrialisation to help galvanise the country’s net zero agenda, create jobs and revitalise deprived areas.
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This week Australia’s federal court is due to make a decision in a landmark climate case that could safeguard the future of the island communities
Uncle Paul Kabai and Uncle Pabai Pabai are afraid for the future of their ancestral homelands. Their country on the outer islands of Zenadth Kes (Torres Strait), less than 10km off Papua New Guinea, is under siege from the impacts of the climate crisis.
The two men fear the loss of their islands, their culture and their way of life, forcing their families and communities to become Australia’s first climate refugees.
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As the Texas flash flooding risk moved west, the National Weather Service pointed to the effect of burn scars from 2024
After the extreme rainfall in Texas on 4 July, the flash flooding risk moved to New Mexico, with 89mm (3.5in) of rain falling in the Rio Ruidoso catchment area on Tuesday.
In the town of Ruidoso, 35 homes were swept away and three people died. The National Weather Service attributed the extreme event to the wildfires that devastated the same area in 2024.
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