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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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Seasonal wardens and netted fences are helping protect the rare ground-nesting birds that arrive each spring on the UK’s shores
On Ross Sands in Northumberland, a little tern has caught sight of a group of people and is sprinting across the beach. “It wants us to follow it,” says Andrew Craggs, senior manager at Lindisfarne national nature reserve. “It’s a diversionary thing – it’s got a scrape and it wants to take us away because it thinks we’re predators.”
Craggs is no predator, and he’s not after the scrape – a small pit the ground-nesting bird has dug into the sand to lay its eggs. He is a guardian of these little birds, as well as more than 3,500 hectares (8,600 acres) of sand dunes, saltmarsh and mudflats that make up this tranquil nature reserve perched on the tip of England’s north-east coast.
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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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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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The births, fledgling flights and even first dates on Robert Fuller’s site are about to hit a million global subscribers
Having enjoyed setting up bird boxes with his father as a child, the wildlife artist Robert Fuller wanted to go one step further. While he happily spent hours making the boxes and dotting them around the Yorkshire Wolds, he found it tantalising that he was unable to see exactly what the nesting owls, kestrels and kingfishers were up to.
It transpires Fuller was not alone in his curiosity. His YouTube channel, which livestreams footage from his artificial habitats and documents his love of British nature, is about to hit a million global subscribers. His channel now generates on average 2.8m monthly views.
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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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