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England and Wales provisionally record driest July in nearly 200 years, Met Office says
July 2026 was the driest month in southern England since records began nearly 200 years ago, the Met Office has said.
England and Wales also provisionally recorded their driest July since records began in 1836. Wales had its joint warmest July on record for mean temperature, and England recorded its second warmest July.
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Just in case you hadn’t already realised how extraordinary the gigantic group of creatures known as invertebrates are, we’ve gathered together five facts that made our brains hurt (plus one more, because we couldn’t choose). Tell us your favourite extraordinary fact in the comments below
Did you know that the mantis shrimp can accelerate to strike its prey faster than a .22 calibre bullet. They can smash shells, and even crack aquarium glass with the power of the strike. “These impressive animals are armed with one hammer-like dactyl club on each side of its body. These clubs store energy in elastic, spring-like structures, which are held in place by latch-like tendons. When the latch is released, the stored energy, too, is released – propelling the club forward with explosive force,” says Nane Steinhoff.
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Most of the zoo’s 16 lions have struggled to cope with high humidity this summer
Three lions from a Tokyo zoo have died from suspected heatstroke and others are undergoing treatment, a spokesperson said on Tuesday, as the big cats struggle in Japan’s high levels of humidity.
Japan sweltered through its hottest summer on record last year and parts of the country have hit 40C in recent weeks, qualifying for the new “cruelly hot day” designation.
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NatureScot refuses licence for hunt on Hebridean island of Sula Sgeir in which up to 2,000 seabirds are killed
A controversial Scottish seabird hunt will not go ahead for the first time in 400 years, in what campaigners have called a “victory for common sense”.
In the annual guga hunt, up to 2,000 gannet chicks are killed over a 10-day period on the uninhabited Hebridean island of Sula Sgeir, 40 miles north of Lewis and Harris.
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Large tabby cat that wiped out dozens of rare pāteke, or brown teal, has been killed after eluding trappers with its ‘very erratic’ behaviour
A notorious feral cat given the name “Nine Lives” because it eluded trappers for three years has been caught and killed in New Zealand, ending its devastating rampage against one of the country’s rare duck populations.
The cat, a large grey tabby, is estimated to have killed dozens of New Zealand’s rarest mainland duck – or 1% of its population – plus a host ofkiwi chicks, native geckos and other native wildlife during the three years it was known to be roaming the Purerua peninsula, near the top of the North Island.
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Buxton, Derbyshire: Acts of vandalism are not unusual. Have we normalised the destruction of ‘common ground’?
Our town is blessed to have the Buxton Civic Association, a charity devoted to the built and natural environment. It owns and manages, for wildlife and people, almost all our important woods, including Grin Low, which was a historically important area for lime‑burning. To celebrate that industry, the civic society commissioned wooden sculptures – Charlie, then Martha – to highlight the important work done by miners in uplifting the fertility of Derbyshire’s farmland.
Martha’s origins are bittersweet. She was created out of a groundswell of public outrage and generosity when Charlie was vandalised in 2021. In quick order, the same nihilism was visited on Martha after her installation: she was daubed with swastikas and her eyes gouged out. The sculptor, Lorraine Botterill, repaired the damage, but this week, two years after Martha had been reinstated, she’s been smashed off her wooden plinth.
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From Europe’s deadly heat to floods in Asia, it’s been a terrifying summer. Environment writers Jonathan Watts and Ajit Niranjan answered Reddit users’ questions about their work – and their sources of hope
Extreme weather supercharged by the climate crisis is fuelling an explosive wildfire season in Europe and extreme rainfall across Asia this summer.
Global heating made hot, dry and windy weather stoking wildfires at least 20 times more likely in Spain and twice as likely in France. EU officials have said wildfires could still be burning until early November in what threatens to be a record-breaking year for the area of land burned.
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British cheesemakers have struggled to find a use for the 95,000 tonnes of salty whey they produce every year. But researchers may have come up with a solution
Name: Whey.
Age: As old as milk.
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This detritivore – known by a range of colourful names – tidies up our world and can withstand toxic pollution
Chucky pig. Slater. Monkey pea. Roly-poly. Boat-builder. Butchy boy. Cheeselog. Hobbling Andrew. Wood pig. If there were a prize for the range and joyfulness of a creature’s English-language names, the humble woodlouse would undoubtedly triumph over its million-plus invertebrate rivals.
Over centuries of easy cohabitation with humans, it has acquired more than 300 regional names in Britain alone, and many more in other languages (such as Gwrach y Coed, “witch of the wood”, in Welsh).
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After another massacre of smallholders – who are subjected to violence from palm oil firms and drug traffickers – the country’s new Trump-backed government has criminalised community leaders
Sitting on the back of the motorcycle, 15-year-old Orlean* heard gunshots. A moment later, the bike crashed. His uncle and two cousins fell to the ground dead. Orlean fled into the dense green forest of the palm oil farm and rushed along the dirt road until he was home.
He survived a massacre, one of only three who did.
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