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‘Megafires’ in California, Canada, South Korea and Europe in 2025, but changes to farming slowed spread in parts of Africa
“Devastating” wildfires ripped across the wealthier parts of the world in 2025, a study has found, even as globally, the area ravaged by flames fell.
Catastrophic blazes claimed lives, homes and jobs last year in California, Canada, Europe and South Korea. But the 335m hectares burned was the second-lowest since 2002, the review found, largely owing to the expansion of African farms that have fragmented landscapes and hampered the spread of large savannah fires.
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With no recorded sightings before 1885, noctilucent clouds have been linked to volcanoes, pollution or climate change
As summer arrives in the northern hemisphere, so do the noctilucent clouds – hopefully. These high-altitude formations are as enigmatic as they are beautiful. Their name derives from Latin, meaning “night shining”.
They appear during the summer months and glow with an electric-blue intensity against the darkening western sky. Look for them about half an hour after sunset.
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Chelsea, London: I find myself moved by this garden that highlights the ‘edgelands’, those unprotected and modest places where nature can thrive
Parakeets screech and planes rumble overhead, but my attention is on the plants at my feet: the tracery of herb robert, purple nibs of plantain, flailing bramble and bristly nettle. I’m sitting on a boulder in a clearing among hawthorn, privet and silver birch. It feels a quiet space, one you might stumble on in the woods or are drawn to when you feel low, but is in fact at the Chelsea flower show.
The name of this garden is On the Edge for it evokes the edgelands, the fringes of where we live. Unprotected, modest places – not grand landscapes but ones that are close by towns and cities. Designed by Sarah Eberle, the garden marks the centenary of the Campaign to Protect Rural England and the launch of the first interactive map of England’s countryside edges, a gathering of people’s stories and memories about place.
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Australia is pioneering a revolution in home renewables and battery use, proving what is possible with the right policies
The timing was rich with symbolism. As intense heatwaves pummelled Europe and Asia, and oil markets around the world leapt and sputtered, the two big chimneys of one of Australia’s largest power stations were being demolished. Meanwhile, the Australian energy minister was holding a media conference to hail a fall of up to 10% in the benchmark electricity price in parts of the country.
Quietly, and with surprisingly little fanfare from the rest of the world, Australia is pioneering a revolution in home renewables and battery use, proving what is possible with the right policies. The country was already one of the global leaders in domestic solar power, with panels on one in three homes. It also remains, however, a major contributor to the climate crisis through its vast fossil fuel exports.But it is batteries that are giving Australia a new burst of speed.
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Many of those who love spending time in Britain’s green places say it is awe-inspiring, calming and therapeutic
As a recent study revealed almost half of UK adults now spend less than three hours a week in natural settings such as gardens, parks, fields or woods, we asked readers to tell us about what being outside means to them.
The replies – heartfelt and passionate – came flooding in, with some admitting they just did not have the words to say how important it is.
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The insatiable horseshoe whip snake has become an existential threat to the Ibiza wall lizard
Irrefutable proof of what Spanish researchers and wildlife experts had long suspected, and long feared, finally presented itself in the form of a grainy video that was shot on a minuscule island in the Balearics in April 2024.
Ribboning its way through the turquoise waters that separate the east coast of Ibiza from the islet of Santa Eulària 450 metres away, came a pale and solitary horseshoe whip snake in search of new territory and fresh sustenance.
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Exclusive: Local authority asked what steps it is taking after hordes of splashing revellers seen disturbing nesting birds
Ministers have written to the City of London demanding it stop people from swimming in a protected pond on Hampstead Heath, after disturbing scenes of cygnets and eggs being disrupted went viral on social media.
Swans and their 12-day-old cygnets were disturbed by hordes of splashing revellers in the north London park on Monday as temperatures reached a record 35C in the capital. In one video, a swan was seen poking an unhatched egg with its beak after it fell into the water during the chaos.
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She had a passion for butterflies and would seek out rare ones, yet this was used against her by violent, money-grabbing husband. Now this pioneering naturalist’s story has been translated to today’s manosphere
‘There’s nothing wrong with having a hobby, or even what you might call in this case a hyperfocus,” psychiatrist Dr Godrick tells Eleanor Glanville in a claustrophobic therapy room.
Outside the Phoenix theatre in Hampshire, a summer heatwave is delivering perfect conditions for butterflies. Inside, a rather darker story is being rehearsed in air-conditioned gloom. Butterfly, a new play, shines a light on one woman’s passion for butterflies and how it is turned against her when she became trapped in an abusive relationship.
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Rather than dreaming of restoring past glory, some are advocating for a future with a lighter footprint. And there are signs of renewal
Kerry Outerbridge motored his powerboat through coral reef ringing the lush, tropical island and alighted upon white sand.
Catamarans and jetskis lay strewn about the beach. Nothing but quiet emerged to greet him from the bungalows scattered among a grove of coconut trees. A plate of food sat on a kitchen table, mouldering.
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Ian Hughes is boosting one of the continent’s most at-risk species with science, his sons and some homemade T-shirts
Ian Hughes and his son, Ben, are driving through the hills of north Wales with an array of homemade animal artefacts rattling around their car: diagrams, plaster casts, hand-printed T-shirts. They finally reach Llyn Tegid – Bala Lake in English – where, knee-deep in the water, Ian brandishes two glutinous snails.
It is a mollusc the size of a fingertip. It is also one of Europe’s most endangered species, which Ian has dedicated himself to protecting. “It’s beyond passion,” he says. “It’s an obsession.”
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