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Fire chief says summer, the UK’s hottest on record, was ‘one of the most challenging for wildfires that we’ve ever faced’
Ten English fire services tackled a record number of grassland, woodland and crop fires during what was the UK’s hottest spring and summer on record, figures show.
In total nearly 27,000 wildfires were dealt with by fire services in England during the prolonged dry weather of 2025, according to analysis by PA Media.
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Post-Fukushima nuclear closures of dozens of reactors forced the country to rely heavily on imported fossil fuels
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Bereaved relatives say delays over risks at village churchyards are causing distress and call for council action
Families of people buried in graves vulnerable to coastal erosion say indecision over how to tackle the problem is causing them avoidable anguish about the final resting places of their loved ones.
North Norfolk district council (NNDC) has identified three church graveyards in the villages of Happisburgh, Trimingham, and Mundesley as being at risk of being engulfed by the sea in the coming decades.
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Wildlife trust is raising funds to buy largest piece of land in single ownership to come up for sale in England for a generation
“We’ve lost so much,” says Mike Pratt, reflecting on Britain’s nature crisis. “We’re getting to the point where if we’re not careful, children in the future won’t know what a hedgehog is. They won’t have encountered one.”
Pratt, the chief executive of Northumberland Wildlife Trust, is speaking on an unseasonably sunny, calm, blue-skied December day surrounded by ruggedly beautiful, spirit-lifting countryside.
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From moules marinière to scallop, bacon and garlic butter rolls, here’s how to cast your culinary net wider and embrace more sustainable species
For a nation surrounded by water, Britain’s seafood tastes are remarkably parochial – we mostly eat cod, haddock, salmon, tuna and prawns. But with a huge range of species out there, making the decision to swap the “big five” for more sustainable options could be a good new year resolution to aim for. Here are five species to consider – and if you’re worried these won’t taste as good as cod and chips, we’ve rounded up a selection of top chefs to tell you how to make the best of what could be on your plate in 2026.
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Crook, County Durham: In among the dead leaves and stacks of clay flower pots is a wren, in the relative warm of its winter roost
It takes a hard shove to free the greenhouse door from the grip of overnight frost. It opens suddenly, with a clatter. Inside, it’s quiet enough to hear a mouse’s footfall, which was what I thought might be the source of the rustling, down among the stacked clay flower pots.
Then a wren – rotund body, perky cocked tail – appears, hops along the bench and disappears into a pot of violas. It must have been roosting in here for a couple of weeks, judging by the pile of droppings. It reappears, we eye each other for a few moments, then, with a whirr of stubby wings, it flies out through the gap in a broken pane of glass, something I’d meant to repair last autumn but will now leave until spring.
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Species that is critically endangered in Britain is spotted in Mersey, Bollin and Goyt rivers in north-west
Young Atlantic salmon have been seen in three rivers in north-west England for the first time since 2015, marking a “significant environmental turnaround”.
The salmon species was declared critically endangered in Britain in 2023 but fish have been spotted in the Mersey, Bollin and Goyt rivers, meaning they have successfully travelled from the Arctic Circle to spawn.
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When developers began circling Espíritu Santo island in the 1990s, a private conservation effort saw them off. But today the Unesco site faces a new threat: mass tourism
On a clear day over the Sea of Cortez, Espíritu Santo looks untouchable. Turquoise water laps at the shores of the island’s rocky coves; whale sharks cruise past snorkellers; seabirds caw over ancient cliffs. The pristine island and its Unesco-protected surroundings – informally called “Mexico’s Galápagos” – are a cocoon of biodiversity.
Yet an increase in tourist numbers has led to growing unease among the island’s longstanding stewards, as environmentalists report a decline in the area’s marine life and call for stricter regulations.
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Since Zack Polanski took over as leader, the party has doubled its membership and its four MPs want to take on Reform’s anger and build community spirit
“Someone has to be out there making the narrative for social security. Someone has to fight the corrosive attitudes to people on benefits,” says Siân Berry, who has just finished her first year as a Green MP in the House of Commons.
She is speaking to the Guardian in her Brighton constituency office, formerly occupied by the legendary Caroline Lucas who flew a lone flag as the only member of parliament for the Green party for 14 years.
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When the hot winds hit Roebourne, as many as 16 people pile into Yindjibarndi elder Lyn Cheedy’s home – one of the few with air conditioning
Few places are more exposed to extreme weather than Roebourne, a tiny cyclone-prone town on the Western Australian coast, where public housing residents endure 50C heat without air conditioning.
Lyn Cheedy, a Yindjibarndi elder, takes her grandson to the pool most afternoons.
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