A quarter of Britain’s native plants are now at risk of extinction The first update in two decades to a “red list” of plants found a substantial increase in the number of threatened species www.thetimes.com/uk/environme...

The message is clear: more than a quarter of our flora is threatened. We know the drivers. What’s needed now is urgent, coordinated action to restore our wild plants. 🌱 Read the full Red List → britishandirishbotany.org/index.php/bi...

Hearing a disturbing rumour that the UK Treasury may have lobbied the German government to NOT invest in Brazil's fund to save tropical rainforests (TFFF). If true, not only are the UK betraying Brazil, they're trying to get other nations to do so. @fionaharvey.bsky.social have you heard this?

Regressive, anti-environment talk from… the Lib Dems’ Tim Farron. I dare @timfarron.bsky.social to publish the ‘evidence’ he claims to have here that Sea Eagles “would not enhance biodiversity” & would be a “huge threat” to lambs Ignorant & scaremongering www.wfelibdems.uk/news/article...

Planning & Infrastructure Bill has its last Lords day on Monday with Third Reading (but will do more with ping-pong with the Commons later). Just two amendments - one tidying one and this one, to avoid a defeat on an amendment tabled by Baroness Parminter. Govt has moved a lot to reassure critics.

A fun question. In 5 years time, what looks better? The US’s enormous bet & capex on AI? Or China’s equally enormous bet and capex on renewables?

Keir Starmer has just told COP30 in the Amazon: "The Amazon rainforest helps to regulate the climate for every person on earth" So why has the UK Govt refused to invest in Brazil's fund to save tropical rainforests? & why no mention of Britain's temperate rainforests? www.gov.uk/government/s...

Britain is a rainforest nation. Britain’s PM is currently in a rainforest in Brazil. Why isn’t he drawing the links between tropical & temperate rainforests, supporting Brazil’s fund, and setting out plans to restore Britain’s rainforests? Me for BBC Radio4 The World Tonight, last night:

Still a chance to return to 1.5C climate goal, researchers say

This is absolutely appalling. "The UK will not contribute to a flagship fund for the world’s remaining tropical forests, in a bitter blow to the Brazilian hosts on the eve of the Cop30 climate summit." Absolutely pathetic. www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Isn't lichen brilliant?

This is such poor politics. The contribution is a loan at slightly below market rates, with a very modest risk attached (into a Facility managed by the World Bank). So it’s really modest. And could be a game-changer for forest protection. V. odd that the UK is burning its political capital on this.

I'll be on BBC R4's The World Tonight c.10.30pm talking about trees, national forests & rainforests tropical + temperate The PM, on his way to the Amazon, has a golden opportunity to help save tropical rainforests AND talk about Britain's own temperate rainforests... & yet: bsky.app/profile/guys...

To be clear, what is being proposed here is to axe the main mechanism for getting Britain’s homes insulated - which is by FAR the best way to reduce household energy bills in the long term 🤦‍♂️ …and also, just incidentally, an absolute non-negotiable requirement for meeting UK climate targets 😬🥵☠️

The crucial bit of this tactical 'only Labour or Reform can win here' VI poll, though, is that Labour and Reform would be tied. Not enough Lib Dem or Green voters are (right now) prepared to tactically vote for Labour to offset the number of Tories willing to tactically vote for Reform.

This is absolutely appalling. "The UK will not contribute to a flagship fund for the world’s remaining tropical forests, in a bitter blow to the Brazilian hosts on the eve of the Cop30 climate summit." Absolutely pathetic. www.theguardian.com/environment/...

European countries want Brazil to increase forest conservation (it certainly can). But some of the world's best opportunities to spare & restore carbon in native forests—while displacing the least food production—actually lie in Europe. Our analysis shows this: www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

The PM is going to a rainforest in Brazil tomorrow. Britain has rainforests too. I agree with the Woodland Trust: "This feels like a lost opportunity to demonstrate domestic leadership in the protection & restoration of the UK's own precious temperate rainforests." www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

For anyone interested in Nature in the UK, this is really, really depressing reading. Despite all our efforts over the past decades (site protection, farming schemes), wild plants, an essential element of the natural world, are disappearing before our eyes. britishandirishbotany.org/index.php/bi...

As the PM heads to the Amazon for COP30, remember that Britain is also a rainforest nation. UK Ministers must support Brazil's plans to save the world's tropical rainforests. They must also set a goal to restore Britain's own lost temperate rainforests: lostrainforestsofbritain.org/2025/11/05/a...

A 15-point win for VA gov. A 5-point win for VA AG in a race he was expected to lose. A 13-point win for NJ gov, in a race that was expected to be close. An outright majority in NYC in a three-way race. A 30-point win for Prop 50 in CA. #BlueWave #Election2025

Republicans thought they had a permanent hold over young men. They didn't. Spanberger wins men 18-29 by 14%, Sherrill by 10%, and Mamdani by a stunning 40%.

I knew that Mamdani had it; he had the people and did the work, and has been the clearest and most lucid in rejecting the untenable current state of things. But the vile, bigoted shit against him was so constant, and I am conditioned to that working better than I want. This feels like an exorcism.

They’ll insist this is a one-off victory — something that can only happen in New York & nowhere else. They’re wrong. New York is the world financial capital — home of Wall Street & billionaires from across the globe. If everyday people can defeat oligarchs here, we can defeat oligarchy anywhere.

Important context to the electoral punishment that the GOP is receiving tonight is that arguably the American economy has not yet endured the full effects of Trump's policy agenda. This may not be the bottom, by any stretch of the imagination.

A new edition of the UNEP's Emissions Gap Report is out. It shows countries making little progress in ramping up ambition, and the very low likelihood of current commitments limiting warming to 1.5 degrees. We're probably avoiding 3 degrees, but there's much more to do. www.unep.org/resources/em...

Turnout in the NYC mayoral election is the highest since 1993.

📢 40+ NGOs have written to the PM urging him to uphold the Aarhus Convention – the cornerstone of environmental justice The Convention protects your right to: ✅ Access environmental information ✅ Have a say in decisions that affect nature ✅ Seek environmental justice affordably

Tuesday’s @thetimes.com cartoon times.newsprints.co.uk/morten-morla...

Our Land, a new documentary, interrogates the connections between land, power and a sense of belonging following the Right to Roam movement in England and Wales. It captures the tension between public campaigners fighting for greater access to nature and landowners.

The River Dart trespass was undertaken by our South Devon group, where they met at Galmpton before trespassing in the Waddeton Court and Sandridge Barton Estates, the latter of which is owned by a company registered in the Cayman Islands.

Great trespass along the River Dart today to kick off @righttoroam.bsky.social's 9 river trespasses in November - protesting the inadequacy & unworkability of the Govt's 9 river walks pledge We trespassed in an estate owned in the Cayman Islands & later met up with kayakers from Friends of the Dart

Strikingly cerise Spindle (Euonymus europaeus) fruits showing the bright orange seeds in N. Wilts. for this week's #WildflowerHour #WiltsBotSoc @bsbibotany.bsky.social @wildflowerhour.bsky.social

There are around 1,500 rivers in Britain, so the government’s manifesto pledge to create a mere 9 river walks is simply pathetic. Give the public a right of responsible access to all rivers & the wider countryside. Our @righttoroam.bsky.social trespass on BBC news: www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Great trespass along the River Dart today to kick off @righttoroam.bsky.social's 9 river trespasses in November - protesting the inadequacy & unworkability of the Govt's 9 river walks pledge We trespassed in an estate owned in the Cayman Islands & later met up with kayakers from Friends of the Dart

For bird place-name of the day 105, I’m using the same map for yesterday, because right by Yarner Wood, in the corner of the map, is ULLACOMBE (Farm), one of several old owl-combe places in this part of the country. #birdsandplace #baturewriting @thebookery.bsky.social @guyshrubsole.bsky.social

Two authors writing about special places, together on a bookshelf in Southwold. 😁 If you’d like to see me and @guyshrubsole.bsky.social together for real, join us on 13th November @thebookery.bsky.social in Crediton (19:30). See below for tickets and details. #naturewriting #Crediton #WhatsOn

Great day searching for Hazel Gloves and other fungi in Devon rainforests with David Satori from RBG Kew, who’s researching the mycorrhizal fungal diversity of British Atlantic oak and hazel woods: www.kew.org/science/our-...

"The most common response among men aged 18-25, as with their female peers, is to state that they would never consider voting for Reform." Stuart Turnbull-Dugarte & Emilia Belknap argue that most British young men reject the right https://ukandeu.ac.uk/most-british-young-men-reject-the-far-right/

Democracy will be under threat if politicians like Nigel Farage avoid proper scrutiny by presenting their own TV shows, according to Sky News presenter @sophyridge.bsky.social 👏 inews.co.uk/news/media/s...

Still worth doing... more so than ever. The balance is shifting.

Farage is flagging. He’s losing councillors and by-elections, and his polling’s plateaued. But we all need to fight him harder. A month ago I wrote this blog about 10 things you can do to help defeat Farage - keep doing them, it’s working! - bsky.app/profile/guys...

My book THE LOST RAINFORESTS OF BRITAIN was published 3 years ago. Since then, it's sold nearly 100,000 copies. More importantly, it's been so wonderful to see the momentum behind the movement to restore Britain's temperate rainforests gather pace - with many more victories yet to come, I hope.

Great read from @iandunt.bsky.social on whether Starmer should stay or go, including the mystery of how, if you’re launching a popular climate, energy, and growth strategy, why wouldn’t you stage a press conference on it? iandunt.substack.com/p/a-world-wi...

Huge congrats to community group Bridestones Rewilded, who this week brought Bridestones Moor in west Yorkshire into community ownership: www.halifaxcourier.co.uk/news/environ... Find out more about their project here: bridestones.love

On Thurs 13th Nov I’ll be chatting with @guyshrubsole.bsky.social about birds in Devon’s place-names, including the cuckoo. Did you know that the earliest written reference to a cuckoo (a riddle) is in a medieval manuscript that has been kept in Exeter for 1000 years? Come and find out more!

Bromsgrove South (Worcestershire) Council By-Election Result: 🔶 LDM: 51.9% (+20.3) ➡️ RFM: 33.4% (-1.5) 🌳 CON: 11.3% (-5.8) 🌹 LAB: 3.4% (-4.1) No GRN (-5.5) or Ind (-3.4) as previous. Liberal Democrat GAIN from Reform. Changes w/ 2025.

Been somewhere very, very exciting today. Incredible chalk grassland, junipers and waxcaps in a landscape shut off to most of England since the First World War. Hoping to write about it for my next book, THE GHOSTS OF CHALK COUNTRY…

Conservatives have today ditched their Mass Deportation Bill, 5 months after Chris Philip tabled it in the Commons, but a week after it was dubbed the Idi Amin Tribute Act, as it proposed Deportations of settled & legal migrants on a scale never seen since 1972 & never proposed in a democracy before