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An MP has handed a 10,000-signature petition in to Downing Street calling for a ban on plastic "bio-bead" use in wastewater treatment.

The move, by Hastings and Rye Labour MP Helena Dollimore, follows a major spill at a Southern Water site in October, after which millions of pellets washed up in Camber Sands and Rye Harbour Nature Reserve - and later, as far as St Mary's Bay.

Clean-up teams have said more than half the estimated spill, which poses a threat to wildlife, could still remain on beaches nearly seven months on.

The Isle of Man's climate and geography make it almost "100% suitable for temperate rainforest", the head of a wildlife charity says after volunteers helped plant tens of thousands of trees.

The project by the Manx Wildlife Trust (MWT) saw 30,000 trees planted over three years at the Creg y Cowin reserve, a 105-acre (42-hectare) site bought by the charity in 2023.

The area was previously used for low-grade grazing and, sitting between two rivers with limited agricultural value, was identified as an ideal spot for rainforest restoration.

Thousands of holes are appearing in the Pennine hills, as part of efforts to improve carbon storage by restoring damaged peatland.

Peat itself is carbon rich and so as it grows it will help to capture the CO₂ that is produced by industrial fossil fuel use that is warming the atmosphere.

Meanwhile, damaged or drained peatlands turn into a carbon source, releasing greenhouses gases themselves. About 15% of the world’s peatlands have been drained, making these kind of restoration projects essential.

A new selection of projects demonstrating how collaboration, long-term thinking and community involvement can turn ambition into action have been awarded up to £15,000 in our latest Rewilding Innovation Fund round. From farmland and rivers to coastlines and seas, we’re proud to support these initiatives that are helping to shape a more resilient, nature-rich future.

The Rewilding Innovation Fund is designed to help remove barriers to rewilding across Britain, supporting fresh thinking while building an essential knowledge base for groundbreaking practitioners in all three nations. This year we’re celebrating having awarded more than £1 million to 86 projects through the fund, highlighting the exciting expansion of the rewilding movement.

Each year on 22 May, the United Nations marks the International Day of Biological Diversity (IDB). This year’s theme — “acting locally for global impact” — resonates strongly with the work of The Wildlife Trusts.

The Wildlife Trusts exist to deliver nature conservation across the UK, working across countries, clusters of counties, devolved nations and Crown Dependencies, and always in close partnership with local communities.

However, alongside delivering conservation on the ground, we also have a responsibility to ensure our work contributes meaningfully to global nature and climate targets — and that we clearly demonstrate the role our work plays in conserving biodiversity at a global scale.

CIEEM is proud to support a landmark cross-sector initiative calling on government to embrace nature-positive housing and infrastructure as a driver of economic prosperity — and we’re urging you to get involved.

The Cross-Built Environment Climate and Nature Forum, led by Prof. Anusha Shah (Past President of the Institution of Civil Engineers, 2023-24), is launching the #NatureIsGrowth campaign from Tuesday 26 May to Monday 2 June 2026, with a campaign summary published on World Environment Day (5 June).

The campaign brings together professional institutions across the built environment to push back against any weakening of nature-positive policy mechanisms, and to demonstrate — with real evidence — that nature-positive development is not in tension with growth. It is growth: delivering homes, infrastructure, economic resilience, climate adaptation and biodiversity recovery together.

‘Creepy crawlies’ are quietly helping keep gardens healthy, balanced and thriving by providing important benefits for gardeners and wildlife such as healthy soils and pest control but are under-appreciated and under-recorded say scientists from the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (UKCEH).

As the RHS Chelsea Flower Show gets under way, UKCEH is asking the public to take an interest in unsung heroes of nature such as spiders, earwigs, woodlice and grasshoppers, by submitting their sightings to support vital scientific research.

Appearing at the show for the first time, scientists will be talking to visitors at UKCEH’s exhibit about their range of easy-to-use citizen science apps such as iRecord to report sightings of flora and fauna in gardens and nearby open spaces. These records provide important data and information to scientists about species trends at local and national levels, which will guide action to restore and create habitats.

Scientists have found high levels of toxic Pfas, or “forever chemicals”, in soil, water and throughout the marine food chain in the UK’s Solent strait, including at protected environmental sites, according to a new study.

In some samples, pollution was 13 times the safe threshold for coastal waters. Others, which were below legal limits for individual chemicals, failed tests for combined toxicity.

The samples were taken from the Solent strait, which runs between the Isle of Wight and the mainland, forming part of the Channel. The chemicals are thought to have entered the environment from wastewater treatment plants, sewage outflows, historic landfills and nearby military sites.

A charity has purchased a water meadow beside a rare chalk stream, which it hopes to turn into a sanctuary for wildlife.

Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust said it had acquired Court House Meadows alongside the River Meon, one of only 220 chalk rivers in existence.

The site covers more than eight hectares in the Meon Valley and will not be open to the public.

When filmmaker David Palfrey visited Cornwall, he was expecting a week of leisurely diving but instead he found himself face-to-face with octopus after octopus in the open water.

A report led by the Marine Biological Association (MBA) in Plymouth said more octopus had been seen off the south-west coast of the UK in 2025 than for at least 75 years.

The MBA said the population spike, known as a bloom, had coincided with unusually warm conditions, which it said were becoming more frequent due to climate change.

Conservation charity the National Trust has taken the unusual step of urging people throughout Northern Ireland to contact their MLA regarding the current state of the natural environment.

The Trust is appealing to the public to join a campaign designed to halt the ongoing decline of nature, while pressing the NI Executive to intensify efforts to restore wildlife and safeguard the natural environment.

New findings from the 2025 People In the Outdoors Survey in Northern Ireland (POMNI) highlight just how vital nature already is to people's daily lives.