-
Amber heat health alerts are now in effect across all regions of England, aside from the north east
Farmers have reported their earliest harvests in 20 years, with reduced yields, while reservoir levels have fallen to 69% – 11.6% lower than expected for this time of year.
Paul Tompkins, the deputy president of the National Farmers’ Union, said that with no meaningful rain forecast in the coming weeks, the situation for farmers was increasingly concerning. He said:
Many farmers have completed the earliest harvest on record, with poor yields in key crops reported in some areas of the country.
Livestock and dairy farmers are already using winter feed because grass has stopped growing, while growers are working hard to keep fruit and vegetables watered, but many are struggling to access the water they need.
Continue reading...
-
Last week reporters Jillian Ambrose and Damian Carrington published a piece which revealed that biggest oil firms made $93bn in profits in three months amid the war in Iran and the climate crisis. They will be online at 2pm BST to discuss their story and any other questions you might have
Ask a question: log in or sign uphere
Last week Jillian Ambrose and Damian Carrington published a front-page story that revealed the vast scale of the profits that eight of the biggest oil firms made in three months as the Iran conflict sent energy prices soaring and the emissions-fuelled climate crisis caused deadly heatwaves.
They will be online at 2pm to answer your questions about their reporting – and any others you might have about how the oil markets work – and how many of these companies have withdrawn from their commitments to a clean energy transition.
Continue reading...
-
Amid world pressure from heatwaves and fertiliser shortages, billionaire’s business has invested in circular farming and biomethane
There is a distinctive smell of cow manure in the air at the Duke of Westminster’s dairy farm near Chester. It is a world away from the collection of grand West End properties controlled by the duke that form the backbone of his near £10bn fortune, a decade on from becoming Britain’s youngest billionaire.
As part of his 349-year-old Grosvenor empire, Lea Manor Farm on the duke’s Eaton Estate in north-west England has fared better than most dairy farms in recent years.
Continue reading...
-
Devons Road estate residents describe months-long ordeal of not being able to wash, clean or cook for much of the day
Christmas Day in east London. Beatrice Asante empties a bag of potatoes into her kitchen sink and turns on the tap. Nothing. She turns it off and on again. Still nothing. What now?
Asante rushes out to the only shop that is open, the local Nisa convenience store. She buys several big plastic bottles of water. Enough, she thinks, to make dinner and to last until the taps start running again.
Continue reading...
-
Its mucus, which can kill crabs and cockroaches, could be the basis of new insecticides
It’s the shuddery stuff of nightmares for some, but for a select group who admire extending ladders, giraffes and the Odyssey, one of the longest animals in the world is bound to appeal.
This creature is nneither the blue whale, nor a lion’s mane jellyfish but the humble bootlace worm, Lineus longissimus,one of the most remarkable marine invertebrates of them all.
It’s invertebrate of the year again! From 3-12 August, every day we will profile one of the thousands of amazing invertebrates that our readers have nominated. And then, when you’ve heard about all of them, we’ll open the voting so you can choose your favourites. Don’t hesitate to get in touch with thoughts and ideas: email us at [email protected] with Invertebrate in the subject line.
Continue reading...
-
Stoney Middleton, Derbyshire:The tradition of well dressing is strong in the Peaks, and this year, I found one featuring a certain 100-year-old naturalist
I could already hear the noises of appreciation as I walked up the lane towards St Martin’s church. “Oh yes,” I heard a woman say. “That’s lovely.” Turning before the lych gate, I spotted a small knot of people standing in front of a small and apparently ancient stone basin on which rested the white frame of this year’s well dressing.
The tradition of well dressing, strong in the Peak District, gives thanks for a community’s supply of safe water and is currently celebrated in more than a dozen villages across Derbyshire and Staffordshire. Given how the drought has left pastures surrounding Stoney Middleton brown and exhausted, this annual event seems more pertinent than ever.
Continue reading...
-
Northern Spain will be one of the best places in world to view phenomenon with 460,000 extra visitors expected
Authorities in Spain have warned of an increased risk of fires when hundreds of thousands of people head to the hills and beaches to get a better view of Wednesday’s total solar eclipse.
“The vegetation is extraordinarily dry and the smallest spark or carelessness could lead to devastating forest fires,” the environment minister, Sara Aagesen, said on a visit to Niebla in the south of the country, the site of Spain’s latest fire.
Continue reading...
-
Volunteers are on the lookout for sick birds as outbreak shatters ‘fairytale belief’ that disease would not reach Australia
Bird enthusiast Jean Turner hoped avian flu would never arrive at her doorstep.
At her home on Kangaroo Island in South Australia, bossy fairy wrens chirp at her from the deck, grey currawongs clumsily fall into her bird bath, and fluffy, hooded plover chicks emerge from speckled eggs in front of her binoculars.
Continue reading...
-
Conservationists have created a ‘coastal corridor’ of ocean-based projects designed to preserve and nourish vulnerable marine life
From disappearing manatees to bleached coral reefs, gender-changing turtles and oyster beds destroyed by hurricanes, no other state’s marine life faces the magnitude of climate-related challenges that Florida’s does.
Now, wildlife authorities are attempting to bring some cohesion to tackling the diverse slate of issues by borrowing from a playbook that has already proved successful on land.
Continue reading...
-
Extreme conditions in Washington and Oregon have fueled fast-moving fires, leaving the region draped in toxic plumes – and the danger isn’t over
Piles of twisted metal and ashen debris line the cul-de-sacs where the tranquil suburbs of Spokane, Washington, once stood.
The scale of devastation from a historic wildfire season in the Pacific north-west has come into sharper focus as firefighters wrangle a trio of blazes that consumed at least 846 structures on the eastern side of the state.
Continue reading...
