Thousands - even millions - of Painted Lady butterflies have
been sighted flying across Dorset, Wiltshire and South Somerset in the last couple
of weeks, heading north and west on their annual summer migration from North Africa..
Moth turns from black to white as
Britain's polluted skies change colour
The
Peppered moth, which changed its colour from white to black in areas of Britain
with heavy pollution, is now reverting back to its original appearance.
A
Swiss pensioner has brought ashore what he believes to be the largest ever fish
caught by a rod and line in Irish and British waters off the Co Clare coast.
Partners turn up the heat to identify
heathland arsonists
Dorset Police
and its partners have stepped-up their joint patrols on local heathland in an
effort to identify those responsible for a spate of fires. A £250 reward is also
being offered.
Britain
is third from bottom in a league table on renewable energy across Europe, with
only Luxembourg and Malta sourcing less of its energy from clean sources such
as wind or sun.
Ministers accused
of trying to bring GM crops to Britain 'by the back door'
The Government has decided to support the cultivation of two
new types of genetically modified maize or sweetcorn which contain a toxin that
kills certain pests.
Japan,
Norway subsidizing unprofitable whaling: WWF
Japan
and Norway are giving large subsidies to their whaling industries, which have
become unprofitable due to rising costs and declining demand for whale meat, the
WWF said Friday.
Icelandic whalers bring in season's first
big catches
Icelandic whale hunters
have brought in their first big catches of the season, two fin whales weighing
around 35 tonnes each, an AFP photographer witnessed Friday.
Partial count of Arctic walruses causes
conservationists to panic
A partial
estimate of Pacific walruses puts their minimum population at a mere 15,164, but
researchers admit that the count probably missed some of the animals.
Polar bear populations in and around Alaska are declining due
to continued melting of sea ice and Russian poaching, according to reports released
Thursday by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Uganda has lost nearly a third of its forest cover since 1990
due to expanding farmlands, a rapidly growing human population and increased urbanisation,
a government report said on Friday.
The
European Union is delaying the ongoing climate negotiations, WWF said after the
bloc’s Council once again failed to declare how much it planned to contribute
to the global fight against devastating climate change.
Scientists in
London yesterday delivered unprecedented regional climate projections for the
United Kingdom, detailing how the nation — piece by piece, in sections measuring
just 25 square kilometres — will probably be affected by climate change.
Climate change will 'transform our lives'
says minister
Summers with temperatures
above 104F (40C) and heatwaves that could kill thousands will become normal for
Britain "within our children's lifetimes", the Environment Secretary has warned.
National Grid has today released a major new report debunking
the myth that the variability of wind energy means that planned increases in renewables
capacity will require a similar increase in fossil fuel-based backup capacity.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev detailed on Friday a 2020 goal
to trim greenhouse gases by 10-15 percent, which is likely to fall far short of
expectations from developing countries.
Asian countries are particularly vulnerable to the effects of
global climate change and must take bold action to reverse it, South Korean Prime
Minister Han Seung-Soo has said.
Most African farmers
will be able to find heat-resistant crop varieties within their own borders or
in other countries on the continent, providing an easy first step towards adapting
to climate change, according to new research.
800,000 homes face flood risk, warns climate
change report
Twice as many British
homes will be at risk of flooding than previously thought because of the impact
of climate change on sea levels, according to a report by government-appointed
experts.
