-
Warm weather means strawberries, aubergines and tomatoes have come weeks earlier than expected
A glut of early strawberries, aubergines and tomatoes has hit Britain with the dry, warm weather eliminating the usual “hungry gap”, growers say.
It has been a sunny, very dry spring, with the warmest start to May on record and temperatures predicted to reach up to 30C at the earliest point on record, forecasters have said.
Continue reading...
-
A ‘wetter farming’ project explores rehydrating peatland to help grow crops in boggier conditions while cutting CO2 emissions
“I really don’t like the word ‘paludiculture’ – most people have no idea what it means,” Sarah Johnson says. “I prefer the term ‘wetter farming’.”
The word might be baffling, but the concept is simple: paludiculture is the use of wet peatlands for agriculture, a practice that goes back centuries in the UK, including growing reeds for thatching roofs.
Continue reading...
-
Greatest growth in rural areas as increase in homes with wood-burning stoves contributes to new air pollution hotspots
Growing numbers of UK homes with wood-burning stoves are leading to new air pollution hotspots.
Analysis by led by University College London (UCL) found that the spatial density of burners is related to the amount of air pollution that builds up in neighbourhoods on winter evenings. The greatest density of wood burners was found in urban areas outside major cities. The list was topped by Worthing, Norwich, Reading, Cambridge and Hastings councils, which all had more than 100 wood burners per square kilometre.
Continue reading...
-
From the turtle-nesting beaches of Italy to Greek island bird havens, across the Mediterranean campaigners are fighting to protect habitats from tourists seeking a picture-perfect holiday
In the summer months in Puglia, southern Italy, the battle for the beaches begins before dawn. Armed with tractors, beach owners flatten every imperfection from the sand, dragging it to sift out anything large enough to be considered waste. As the sun rises, tourists flood the coastline, often unaware of what lies hidden beneath their feet.
Two feet below the surface, delicate eggs laid by loggerhead sea turtles (Caretta caretta) are waiting to hatch. For the turtles, the beach is not a beauty spot but a habitat.
Continue reading...
-
Cairngorms national park: They’re in there somewhere, performing their morning breeding displays this time of year. But some things are better left unseen
There’s an inexorable pull into the pinewoods in these spring early mornings. On the loch, the sun-kissed mist is lifting and a male goldeneye displays, tipping its head back as it ripples across the water. Skeins of overwintering geese are still leaving for their breeding grounds farther north, and yet the summer’s chiffchaffs are also calling; I hear the first willow warblers too. Bright green clover-like leaves foretell the sprinklings of wood sorrel soon to come, and a flock of yellow-green and black streaked siskins flash in the sunlight – but I resist the temptation to follow them into the heart of the woods, for other spring rituals are taking place there.
It’s the time of year for early morning capercaillie leks, where the males congregate in hidden clearings in the middle of the woodsto display and attract a mate. Capercaillies are huge members of the grouse family, thought to have inhabited old-growth pinewoods like these since the last ice age. In the UK, they’re only found in the pinewoods of Scotland, with the Cairngorms their stronghold. They’re incredible birds. The females are a cryptic brown, the males even bigger, with a red-rimmed eye, black and white with a fan-like tail that they spread during display. Their decline in Scotland has been precipitous, from more than 20,000 in the 1970s to just over 500 now.
Continue reading...
-
Exclusive: Britain is key financial hub for destructive fossil fuel mega-projects, according to research
Banks in the City of London have poured more than $100bn (£75bn) into companies developing “carbon bombs” – huge oil, gas and coal projects that would drive the climate past internationally agreed temperature limits with catastrophic global consequences – according to a study.
Nine London-based banks, including HSBC, NatWest, Barclays and Lloyds are involved in financing companies responsible for at least 117 carbon bomb projects in 28 countries between 2016 – the year after the landmark Paris agreement was signed – and 2023, according to the study.
Continue reading...
-
This week the presenter turns 99. To celebrate, we asked 99 nature lovers – including Margaret Atwood, Jane Fonda, Bono, Kate Winslet and Michael Palin – how he has helped us see the world with fresh eyes
Presenter, nature activist
It’s all about truth. Ask yourself, “Has David ever knowingly lied to me?” No, never. He may have told us things 40 years ago that science has updated, but he’s always told us the truth. In an age when it’s hard to trust anyone, that stands as his greatest asset.
Continue reading...
-
That distinctive ‘new furniture smell’ is a sign that harmful compounds are being released. Here are ways to sidestep the environmental and health risks of cheap furniture
You’ve heard of fast fashion – but what about fast furniture?
It’s the cheap stuff churned out in mass quantities with little regard for quality, all designed to be ditched within just a few years.
Continue reading...
-
Invasive buffel grass is destroying native rangelands and increasing bushfire risk, but farmers say eradicating it would ‘cripple the beef industry’
Buffel is a simple grass causing an almighty kerfuffle across the country as it progresses through nomination as a weed of national significance.
The perennial grass (Cenchrus ciliaris) is native to Africa and was accidentally introduced to the Australian outback via seeds hitchhiking on camel harnesses, before being deliberately planted through the early and mid-20th century as a summer-growing pasture. It grows in tall tufts with a fluffy flowering head and has spread through the arid and semi-arid rangelands of inland Australia.
Sign up to receive Guardian Australia’s fortnightly Rural Network email newsletter
Continue reading...
-
Environmentalists worry that the post-Brexit legislation will allow the destruction of rare and fragile ecosystems
Walk along the gin-clear River Itchen in Hampshire and you might see otters, salmon, kingfishers and clouds of mayflies, all supported by the unique ecosystem of the chalk stream.
The UK has no tropical rainforests or tigers; its wildlife is arguably more modest in appearance. But its chalk streams are some of the rarest habitats in the world – there are only 200, and England boasts 85% of them. If you look properly, they are as biodiverse and beautiful as any rainforest.
Continue reading...
