Insect life has rebounded in a river receiving all of Swindon's wastewater thanks to substantial investments to improve sewage treatment, according to a DEFRA-funded study.
The River Ray in Wiltshire, which lies downstream of Swindon’s major sewage plant, is largely formed of treated wastewater and had seen steep declines in wildlife populations from the 1960s onwards.
Get involved in this European Citizen Science research project, and help by sampling water quality in the Thames Valley.
Have a look at this footage from the Bannisdale River Restoration Project in South Cumbria.
A specialist natural enemy of Himalayan balsam is being introduced as part of a trial to kill off the invasive plant that has spread throughout south Wales.
Invasive species cost the UK economy £1.8bn every year, according to government figures. Experts believe the UK is home to around 2,000 non-native species, with about 10-15% of these deemed invasive – a plant or animal that does not have a natural predator to keep its numbers in check.
The International Fario Club, with assistance from Salmon & Trout Conservation, have this year launched the Prix Charles Ritz award for England and Wales, to honour projects here helping to preserve our rivers for future generations.
Recognising environmental initiatives on the rivers we cherish
Targets for 75% of rivers to be healthy by 2027 are "very unlikely" to be met in England, a charity has warned.
The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) says rivers are "used as open sewers".
The Environment Agency predicts 75% of rivers in England and along the Scottish and Welsh borders will meet EU expectations by 2027, compared with just 14% now.
It is planning an autumn consultation on "challenges and choices" faced in cleaning up water.
The agency said it would review the target based on "what can realistically be achieved".
Thousands of fish have died in an important salmon spawning headwater as a result of anaerobic digestate entering in the River Mole in north Devon, according to the Environment Agency (EA), which said it was the region's "largest ever fish kill".
The agency said yesterday that it had completed its initial assessment into the incident and identified the source and pollutant but that it was continuing to investigate.
As the climate changes and global temperatures continue to rise, the wildfire season in the United States grows longer. These wildfires are burning hotter, consuming more acres of land, and leaving paths of destruction unlike ever before. Often started by something as small as a spark, wildfires can consume and destroy miles of landscape as well as shift the balance of vital ecosystems. As wildfires continue to grow more and more destructive, we are forced to plan and strategize methods to prevent and contain them.
How does a wildfire start?
Sustainable urban drainage systems (SuDS) have become increasingly popular in recent years with Wales leading the way, setting out legislation requiring a SuDS design/ consideration for any site with more than one building or a development area greater than 100m2. This indicates we are moving away from the traditional grey (hard engineering) approach to a more natural blue-green approach.
Rewilding is held back by quibbles over its precise definition and scope - we need simply to embrace it.
Rewilding is a simple concept: giving land back to wildlife and wildlife back to the land.
To rewild is to restore natural processes, revive degraded habitats, reintroduce species either missing or depleted, and then step back and watch as the ecosystem becomes self-willed and self-regulating once again in an alchemy of flux, dynamism and unpredictability.