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Nature

AI4Peat - Innovative use of AI to map and restore our precious peatlands

Posted by: and , Posted on: - Categories: Climate change, Evidence, Landscapes, Mapping, Monitoring, Nature, Peat, Science and evidence

AI4Peat Project team members: Anne Williams, Michelle Johnson, Samuel Richardson, Nick Tomline, Martha Tabor, Phil Shea. Restoring Peatlands Peatlands are among the UK's most valuable ecosystems, playing a crucial role in carbon storage, water regulation, and biodiversity. However, many peatland …

A brighter future for Cornwall’s willow tits

Willow tit. © Adrian Davey, CBWPS member

Weighing as much as two teaspoons of sugar, with a round body and a ‘sooty black cap’ on their heads, willow tits are some of the sweetest looking birds in the country. But they are in danger – the willow …

Tracking Jack Snipe: Our quest to understand the UK’s most elusive bird

Posted by: , Posted on: - Categories: Biodiversity, Evidence, Monitoring, Natural England, Nature, Nature Recovery, Wildlife
Jack Snipe head and bill profile. © Kevin Clements, Natural England.

By Kevin Clements, West Midlands Area Delivery Team The project The Jack Snipe is probably our most elusive and least understood bird. But a Natural England project aims to change that. It’s a small and secretive bird which, arguably, a …

Study launched into relationship between people and nature

Buttercups in Devon. © Ruth Lamont, Natural England.

By Ruth Lamont, Principal Officer in Research Ethics, Knowledge into Practice, Chief Scientist’s Directorate, Natural England Started in 2022, the RENEW project, led by the University of Exeter and funded by the Natural Environment Research Council, is a five-year programme …

Outcome of Natural England’s review of bird of prey ‘wild take’ licensing for falconry and aviculture

Posted by: , Posted on: - Categories: Evidence, Licensing, Natural England, Nature, Wildlife
A sparrowhawk in flight

Natural England has today published the outcome of its review into the licensing of ‘wild take’, a practice that involves taking young birds of prey from the wild for use in falconry and aviculture. Defra ministers have endorsed Natural England’s …

How new technologies are helping us monitor one of England’s largest grey seal colonies 

A seal and its pup on Horsey Beach. Image: Natural England

By Gabriella Fasoli and Nick Tomline (AI specialists), Emma Milner (marine mammal specialist) and Elizabeth Mitchell (engagement), all on the marine Natural Capital and Ecosystem Assessment (mNCEA) programme Documenting Norfolk's biggest beach party On a windy day in December, something …

Harnessing Nature-based Solutions to help combat flooding

Posted by: , Posted on: - Categories: Flood Management, Natural England, Nature, Nature Recovery, Nature-based solutions
Two images: on the left is a drone, and on the right is the drone control with data the drone is capturing on a screen

As climate change brings more frequent and severe flooding, innovative solutions are emerging to tackle these challenges. Working with nature, not against it, Natural England is proposing schemes to help tackle flooding in Norfolk and Suffolk.   Projects in our region …

How can Nature-Based Solutions address the climate and Nature crises?

Keynote speech by Tony Juniper CBE, Chair of Natural England, at Nature Returns conference, 6 February 2025 It is an absolute pleasure to be here today and to see this latest journey in what has been a decades-long process of …

Three churrs for the heathland bird survey

Dartford warbler. Credit: Philip Ray

By Alison Giacomelli, Senior Specialist – Ornithology, Natural England Heathlands are home to the eerie sound of churring Nightjars, sweet melody of singing Woodlarks and the rattling song of Dartford Warblers. This year teams of volunteers and fieldworkers will be …

Green Infrastructure: the catalyst for Urban Greening 

It’s two years since Natural England launched the Green Infrastructure (GI) Framework to support the creation of good quality Green Infrastructure. It’s well documented that we need to build a more sustainable future, and at the forefront of this movement …