Cambridge City Council has prepared an update to its biodiversity strategy, and a new "Urban Forest strategy". Both are available for review and comment now engage.cambridge.gov.uk/en-GB/projec...

It was a pleasure to report on the winter weather, here in The Cambridgeshire Fens, for the BBC Radio 4 Today programme

Fascinating study "..in the Guardian, 71% of 2024 articles referring to ‘net zero’ once also mention climate change, that is matched by just 23% in the Sun; 27% in the Express; 32% in the Telegraph; and 38% in the Times. " eciu.net/media/press-...

Conservation grazing to boost grassland restoration at NT Wimpole, Cambs Dartmoor ponies to graze National Trust land at Wimpole Estate - BBC News www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Most of the UK, all of the Republic of Ireland, and Portugal are in the Western Hemisphere too. Should we be worried too? (Note, you have to get through quite a baffling word salad before you get to this line) @snellarthur.bsky.social

In the meantime he’d rather redirect people to this talk youtu.be/5Mzl6DZZIPg?...

The Churchill Fellowship report has now been published www.churchillfellowship.org/ideas-expert...

Spoken to Harvey about this - it’s largely a big misrepresentation of a feasibility project that if deemed viable would want to have first releases by 2027 or later, into an approved scheme that will have animals ‘thriving’ by 2027. He’s not best pleased and has got in touch with the journalist.

Early morning moth trapping in Cambridge after the holidays. No moths this morning, but some beautiful skies and views. (On top of the David Attenborough building and at King's College).

Although its very cold at the moment in the UK, 2025 was both the warmest (with a mean temperature of 10.09°C) and sunniest (1648.5 hours) on record. Here is a climate and weather #dataviz summary for the last year. #climatechange #globalwarming.

Corncrake in a Herts reedbed in January? Hope we’re not missing a young Allen’s gallinule or something (2 v recently in Europe). Or maybe just a confused bird from Norfolk reintro program?

Even if there was robust evidence of native status (there isn't) and a strong rationale for (re)introduction (there isn't), why release them into some of our most ancient and irreplaceable wetlands? The precautionary principle dictates that any trial should be somewhere less fragile.

There’s little / no evidence of the presence of these species. The one mention in an historic document of tree frogs specifically says they were NOT the frog in Norfolk. And to suggest these species were driven out by humans is pure fantasy. No mention of them in this academic book on the subject.

My Swarovski STS 65 HD scope, with 20-60 zoom is available, although lens caps missing. Comes with stay-on case (front lost its lower clip). Tripod available. Know any local young birders who may like it? - free of charge @landguardbo.bsky.social @landguardbirder.bsky.social @david-walsh.bsky.social

Hmmmmm? @amiesphilip.bsky.social BBC News - Three frogs to be reintroduced to West Acre 'pingos' - BBC News www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Happy New Year everyone. Looking forward to another lepidopteran year. Please let us know when you see your first moth or butterfly. We will try to provide updates, including first reports of each butterfly species in our region.

Great News: Corfu Butterfly Conservation transitioned to Ionian Butterfly Conservation (IBC) on 27 November 2025. This allows IBC to collect data from all the major islands, including Lefkas, Ithaca, Kephalonia,and Zakynthos, as well as Corfu. See IonianButterflyConservation.org for more news.

Congratulations Prof. @juliajones.bsky.social MBE for services to the environment. Julia's contibutions span the academic, policy and practical, supporting action locally, nationally and globally. @jncc.bsky.social we are very proud.

Preliminary results from our county recorder suggest 2025 was a better year for butterflies in Norfolk. Who got the top marks Purple Emperor & Clouded Yellow - Excellant Swallowtail - Good Dingy & Grizzled Skipper - Steady 📷 PE Iain Leach BC

I’ve just released deets for a new wetland ID course, with a special emphasis on lowland fens! 😍🌱 Find out more here: britishbotany.co.uk/products/rea...

Well worth watching if you’re interested in Fenland history and landscape www.youtube.com/watch?v=6oNs...

Congratulations to @craigbennett3.bsky.social on his OBE for services to the environment www.wildlifetrusts.org/news/craig-b...

Looking back on 2025, one of my wildlife highlights was spending time in northern Greece in June. Here's a small selection of butterflies photographed on my travels. Overall 2025 has been an excellent year & I am raring to go for the next 12 months too! Best wishes to all the good folk here too!

Top work from my borther-in-law for surprise birthday present

Cambs Local Nature Recovery Strategy is finalised and online. Along with a digital habitat map of the county. We supported this process and it's great to see this public cambridgeshirepeterborough-ca.gov.uk/local-nature...

A photo from a Swedish bird news feed - an ID puzzle. Is this a partially leucistic Siberian Tit? Or a Willow Tit with some form of erythrism? Any thoughts @richardkbroughton.bsky.social?

This year's Christmas/birthday books were mainly along a Cambridge-based nature writers theme @tonyjuniper.bsky.social @robgmacfarlane.bsky.social

Season's Greetings everyone

Midwinter is upon us. Bring in the spring @sbbtrust.bsky.social @savebutterflies.bsky.social

Beaver photo in a camera trap in the Little Ouse. How long before they are spreading through the fens, and up into Thetford? www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

My new book, Elemental, the geopolitics of climate change, is now available @bookshop.org on a discount. Here's 3 reasons to buy: - You support local, independent bookshops - You get a great price - You help me enormously because pre-sales are really important 😀 uk.bookshop.org/p/books/elem...

URGENT Attention all macrophotographers! Does anyone have an image of the sexual form of Andricus quercuscalicis - ideally laying on an English oak bud!!!!

The International Swan Census is nearly here! UK coverage looks strong, but key Whooper/Bewick's sites still need volunteers for 17–18 Jan 26. If you can help, please reach out to @btobirds.bsky.social. Check map for vacant sites lnkd.in/eWqWm7GW Thanks to all who are taking part! Photo: Ben Andrew

💧 Winter is key for replenishment of our rivers, aquifers and reservoirs — what happens in the next three months will strongly influence whether we see drought conditions again next year. 📹 Dr Katie Facer-Childs discusses the latest UK Hydrological Outlook 🧪 1/

New research from Belgium doesn’t support the ‘lost generation’ theory for the decline of the Wall, but does show reduced survival with warming temperatures 🌍 nsojournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/... (📷 Mark Searle)

Shifting baseline of car ownership. This photo of the village I grew up in (incl the house) was in a paper today. What struck my is that in the 80's cars never needed to park on the road. But this is now considered perfectly normal. 🧵

A semi-random 1 km square in the Fens. Vast arable, no woody cover except this small patch. O hedges. And the square had almost 60 deer in it. Mostly Roe, some Chinese Water Deer.

Watch my most recent talk at your leisure here: wsrt.org.uk/news/insect-...

It's an archipelago off the north-east tip of Scotland, but that's not important right now.

Java is roughly the same size as England, and has a population of around 160 million people And yet also still has rhinos, Leopards and wild cattle www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/11...

EU Commission Regulation on pollinator monitoring was published today. 1/2 environment.ec.europa.eu/news/better-...

Can trees outside woods improve farmland biodiversity? 🌳 This #NationalTreeWeek, Richard Fox, Head of Science, discusses a recent study into the importance of trees outside woods for farmland butterflies 🦋 buff.ly/spvtBMp

Why is the BBC using such an awful AI generated image to illustrate this important story? Surely @gettyimages.com didn't make that?

WORK PARTY - Sun 23/11, 10am Devil's Dyke near Newmarket. Please come along and help us with essential conservation work to support the Chalkhill Blue, Adonis Blue, Dingy Skipper, and other grassland species. butterfly-conservation.org/events/cambs...

Black-veined White Butterfly (Aporia crataegi) Van, Catak & Nemrut Crater Lake, Turkey I always wanted to see this butterfly and I saw it for the first time last year in Greece. However, the trip to Turkey was something else. Seen every day and quite often in large numbers #Lepidoptera #Butterfly

Trying to be more active here again. So starting my comeback with a short story in the form of a news feature from an alternative universe - one where the Pleistocene megafauna of mammoths, sabre-toothed cats, giant wombats and so much more survived to today petemrcooper.substack.com/p/the-last-b...

Rewilding - Vermont style www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

Late notice, sorry. But I am giving a talk about butterflies at the Fulbourn Gardening Society tonight (Tuesday 18th Nov). Starting 7:30pm The Swifts, on the west side of Haggis Gap, Fulbourn CB21 5HD.

Rewilding - french style France’s largest rewilding project takes root in the Dauphiné Alps share.google/dy49yqClCxwY...