https://www.theguardian.com/uk/ruralaffairs Latest news and features from theguardian.com, the world's leading liberal voice en-gb Guardian News &amp; Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. 2026 Mon, 08 Jun 2026 00:14:35 GMT 2026-06-08T00:14:35Z en-gb Guardian News &amp; Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. 2026 https://assets.guim.co.uk/images/guardian-logo-rss.c45beb1bafa34b347ac333af2e6fe23f.png https://www.theguardian.com https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/jun/06/country-diary-a-plough-a-haybale-who-would-live-in-a-house-like-this <p><strong>Hungerford, Berkshire:</strong> In a nearby farm, ever-resourceful birds and bees are getting creative with where they build their nests</p><p>There are some unusual nesting spots being utilised in the farm and stableyard, revealed by pauses between chores.</p><p>My wheelbarrow trips to the muck heap are attended by pied and grey wagtail pairs that make small aerial assaults on insects, though I’ve yet to locate their nests. The swallows are well-served here by midges and flies swarming around warm-blooded animals, and there is always mud for nest repairs, with the regular slosh of water buckets and hosing down of sweaty horses.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/jun/06/country-diary-a-plough-a-haybale-who-would-live-in-a-house-like-this">Continue reading...</a> Farming Environment Rural affairs Birds Bees Animals Insects Wildlife Spring Summer UK news Sat, 06 Jun 2026 07:00:04 GMT https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/jun/06/country-diary-a-plough-a-haybale-who-would-live-in-a-house-like-this Photograph: Nicola Chester Photograph: Nicola Chester Photograph: Nicola Chester Nicola Chester 2026-06-06T07:00:04Z https://www.theguardian.com/news/ng-interactive/2026/jun/06/missing-white-tailed-sea-eagle-north-york-moors <p>The UK’s biggest bird of prey has been compared to a flying barn door. So how can one fitted with a satellite tracker disappear in prime grouse-shooting country?</p><p>The six police officers arrived at the Snilesworth estate in two pickup trucks last week, according to one account. They asked to go up on the moors, a source said, and “so off they went”.</p><p>A vast expanse of spectacularly undulating lands on the western edge of the North York Moors, Snilesworth is globally renowned for its grouse, partridge and pheasant shooting. It is known locally for attracting “rich people from London in helicopters and blacked-out SUVs”.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/news/ng-interactive/2026/jun/06/missing-white-tailed-sea-eagle-north-york-moors">Continue reading...</a> Birds Conservation Wildlife Animals England North of England North Yorkshire Environment UK news Hunting Rural affairs Rewilding Sat, 06 Jun 2026 05:00:01 GMT https://www.theguardian.com/news/ng-interactive/2026/jun/06/missing-white-tailed-sea-eagle-north-york-moors Photograph: Ian Griffin Photograph: Ian Griffin Photograph: Ian Griffin Daniel Boffey on the North York Moors 2026-06-06T05:00:01Z https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/jun/05/country-diary-the-queen-of-trees-is-holding-a-secret <p><strong>Eggesford Forest, Devon:</strong> I thought I was alone in admiring a towering beech in the chilly wood, but I was not</p><p>I breathe in the bluebells as a blackcap sings. At the crescendo, a flash of yellow breaks up the blue – a brimstone butterfly flies up to my face, then moves back, approaches, then draws back, repeating the fluttered action until I follow.</p><p>Together, we weave through fresh-scented firs before my companion flits away and I realise that I have come further into the forest than intended. My feet start to throb and the wind, as the sky grows overcast, brings a chill. I see the leaves of a vaulted canopy stir overhead and feel the softest carpet of fallen catkins underfoot. Although the threat of rain urges me forwards, a tree, an imposing common beech, makes me stay.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/jun/05/country-diary-the-queen-of-trees-is-holding-a-secret">Continue reading...</a> Trees and forests Environment Rural affairs Birds Spring Summer Wild flowers Wildlife Animals Insects Butterflies Walking UK news Fri, 05 Jun 2026 04:30:25 GMT https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/jun/05/country-diary-the-queen-of-trees-is-holding-a-secret Photograph: Elizabeth-Jane Burnett Photograph: Elizabeth-Jane Burnett Photograph: Elizabeth-Jane Burnett Elizabeth-Jane Burnett 2026-06-05T04:30:25Z https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/jun/04/country-diary-a-close-up-view-of-a-shimmering-beauty <p><strong>Bridport, Dorset:</strong> The female in my garden has been a glittering presence of late, but soon she will return to the river to breed</p><p>The <a href="https://british-dragonflies.org.uk/species/beautiful-demoiselle/">beautiful demoiselle</a> (<em>Calopteryx virgo</em>) is aptly named. This loveliest of damselflies is on the wing now across south-west England and Wales, fluttering like a falling scrap of metallic paper among the vegetation.</p><p>One of only two species of damselfly with coloured wings, the males have blue bodies and dark-sheened wings while females are green with contrasting tan wings. But such a plain description doesn’t begin to capture their true appearance.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/jun/04/country-diary-a-close-up-view-of-a-shimmering-beauty">Continue reading...</a> Wildlife Insects Environment Rural affairs UK news Rivers Thu, 04 Jun 2026 04:30:25 GMT https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/jun/04/country-diary-a-close-up-view-of-a-shimmering-beauty Photograph: Sara Hudston Photograph: Sara Hudston Photograph: Sara Hudston Sara Hudston 2026-06-04T04:30:25Z https://www.theguardian.com/business/2026/jun/03/rural-uk-particularly-at-risk-of-diesel-shortages-if-iran-war-continues <p>OECD forecast sets out economic risks from conflict, pointing to potential shortfalls to key energy products</p><ul><li><p><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2026/jun/03/oecd-predicts-spate-of-recessions-globally-if-iran-conflict-drags-into-2027">OECD predicts spate of recessions globally if Iran conflict drags into 2027</a></p></li></ul><p>Rural areas in the UK would be particularly at risk of diesel shortages if the conflict in Iran continues to squeeze supplies, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development has warned.</p><p>The OECD predicted economic growth of 0.9% in the UK this year – a modest upgrade from the 0.7% it feared in March when it last updated its forecasts. It said government spending will help to support the economy in the short term.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2026/jun/03/rural-uk-particularly-at-risk-of-diesel-shortages-if-iran-war-continues">Continue reading...</a> OECD Rural affairs UK news Business US-Israel war on Iran World news Petrol prices Money Food & drink industry Motoring Supply chain crisis Oil Gas Wed, 03 Jun 2026 07:00:44 GMT https://www.theguardian.com/business/2026/jun/03/rural-uk-particularly-at-risk-of-diesel-shortages-if-iran-war-continues Photograph: David Calvert/Alamy Photograph: David Calvert/Alamy Photograph: David Calvert/Alamy Heather Stewart Economics editor 2026-06-03T07:00:44Z https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/jun/03/country-diary-my-family-has-lived-near-here-for-300-years-no-wonder-it-feels-like-home <p><strong>Tebay, Cumbria:</strong> Some of my ancestors were fell pony hauliers and our farmhouse used to be a coaching inn. Might they have called in for a drink?</p><p>There is always some waiting around at lambing and calving time, so I like to have a project ongoing. Some years I have written books; this year I’m researching my family tree, in particular whether any of my ancestors may have visited Low Borrowdale farm when it was a coaching inn in the 18th century. I knew they had been involved in fell pony haulage around the north of England, but could they have called in here for&nbsp;a&nbsp;drink?</p><p>I’m mainly investigating the Binks family – my maiden name. Almost within living memory, there is my grandad’s grandad, George Binks, a&nbsp;fell pony haulier who lived in Great Asby from 1862 to 1934. My grandad told me which house he lived in, eight miles from our farm. Two more generations of George Binkses take us to 1785, when one was born in Middleton-in-Teesdale and died in 1840 at Kirkby Stephen, 11 miles away.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/jun/03/country-diary-my-family-has-lived-near-here-for-300-years-no-wonder-it-feels-like-home">Continue reading...</a> Genealogy Family Environment Rural affairs Farming Horses Yorkshire Animals Wildlife UK news Cumbria Wed, 03 Jun 2026 04:30:41 GMT https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/jun/03/country-diary-my-family-has-lived-near-here-for-300-years-no-wonder-it-feels-like-home Photograph: Andrea Meanwell Photograph: Andrea Meanwell Photograph: Andrea Meanwell Andrea Meanwell 2026-06-03T04:30:41Z https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/jun/02/country-diary-why-are-orchids-so-mysterious-and-coveted-it-all-starts-underground <p><strong>Hogshaw, Derbyshire:</strong> We’re up to 27 spotted orchids in our garden, and every one is a miracle</p><p>When we moved to this house, we didn’t need the encouragement of No Mow May – the ecological campaign advocating restraint in the garden. Our old lawnmower was designed to tackle your average handkerchief and leaving nine-tenths of the new place uncut was a matter of necessity as&nbsp;much as self-control.</p><p>The highlight of last year’s non-labouring efforts addressed directly the whole meaning of no-mow gardening. Who knows what lies hidden in a uniform shorn expanse, unless it is allowed to express itself? A slender pink flower among the green swathe turned out to be a spotted orchid, the commonest, most widespread of our 54 UK species. With this as a search image, I eventually climbed to 16 spikes last year. That alone felt like a triumph.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/jun/02/country-diary-why-are-orchids-so-mysterious-and-coveted-it-all-starts-underground">Continue reading...</a> Wild flowers Environment Rural affairs UK news Plants Tue, 02 Jun 2026 04:30:37 GMT https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/jun/02/country-diary-why-are-orchids-so-mysterious-and-coveted-it-all-starts-underground Photograph: Mark Cocker Photograph: Mark Cocker Photograph: Mark Cocker Mark Cocker 2026-06-02T04:30:37Z https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/jun/01/country-diary-a-celebration-of-life-on-the-edge <p><strong>Chelsea, London:</strong> I find myself moved by this garden that highlights the ‘edgelands’, those unprotected and modest places where nature can thrive</p><p>Parakeets screech and planes rumble overhead, but my attention is on the plants at my feet: the tracery of herb robert, purple nibs of plantain, flailing bramble and bristly nettle. I’m sitting on a boulder in a clearing among hawthorn, privet and silver birch. It feels a quiet space, one you might stumble on in the woods or are drawn to when you feel low, but is in fact at the Chelsea flower show.</p><p>The name of this garden is <a href="https://www.cpre.org.uk/rhs-chelsea-2026/">On the Edge</a> for it evokes the edgelands, the fringes of where we live. Unprotected, modest places – not grand landscapes but ones that are close by towns and cities. Designed by Sarah Eberle, the garden marks the <a href="https://www.cpre.org.uk/celebrating-our-centenary/">centenary of the Campaign to Protect Rural England</a> and the launch of the first interactive map of England’s countryside edges, a gathering of people’s stories and memories about place.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/jun/01/country-diary-a-celebration-of-life-on-the-edge">Continue reading...</a> Chelsea flower show Gardens Wildlife Environment Rural affairs UK news Mon, 01 Jun 2026 04:30:07 GMT https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/jun/01/country-diary-a-celebration-of-life-on-the-edge Photograph: Susie White Photograph: Susie White Photograph: Susie White Susie White 2026-06-01T04:30:07Z https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/may/30/country-diary-the-chimes-of-the-church-clock-are-ready-to-ring-again <p><strong>Madley, Wye Valley, Herefordshire:</strong> A day of nervous excitement as we invite all-comers to this unveiling. But does everyone know the chimes will continue through the night?</p><p>The clock chimes had not rung for two years. A wire had snapped, cogs had broken and the weights had crashed to the floor. We applied for grants and found specialist engineers, and now, finally, they’re ready to ring again.</p><p>It’s 11.55 on a Saturday morning and the bellringing chamber of <a href="https://www.visitherefordshire.co.uk/discover/madley-church">Madley parish church</a> is filled with wellwishers and regulars from the congregation. I splash the clock mechanism, the main bell ropes and the gathered company with water and proclaim a trinitarian blessing. Mike, one of our lead ringers, unhooks a couple of wires that releases the hammers on the eight bells. We wait a slow, nervous minute till noon. Would they really sound again after all this time? Then, 12 distinct “dongs”. We hear the Saturday Social Club raise a cheer from the ground floor.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/may/30/country-diary-the-chimes-of-the-church-clock-are-ready-to-ring-again">Continue reading...</a> Heritage Religion Environment Rural affairs UK news Anglicanism Sat, 30 May 2026 04:30:09 GMT https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/may/30/country-diary-the-chimes-of-the-church-clock-are-ready-to-ring-again Photograph: Simon Lockett Photograph: Simon Lockett Photograph: Simon Lockett Rev Simon Lockett 2026-05-30T04:30:09Z https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/may/29/country-diary-today-was-once-a-public-holiday-thanks-to-these-oak-apples <p><strong>The Marches, Shropshire</strong>: You never know what kind of parasites you might find lurking in an old tree</p><p>“Oak apple day, the 29th of May,” is a rhyming reminder of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oak_Apple_Day">public holiday</a> ordered by Charles&nbsp;II to celebrate the restoration of the monarchy in 1660. After his escape from parliamentarians by hiding in an oak tree at Boscobel in Shropshire, it is no great leap of imagination to associate a hidden king with oak apples: parasitic galls are strange, uncanny fruit that encourage satire at least.</p><p>A month ago, the oak galls on this ancient tree were as shiny as cherries. Today they are bigger, browner and mottled, like weird little apples. They were formed when an agamic, wingless, female oak apple gall wasp, <em>Biorhiza pallida, </em>burrowed out from a gall in the oak’s roots, climbed the tree and injected a cluster of eggs and a drop of venom into a leaf bud. The hatched grubs<strong> </strong>then produced substances that caused a tumour-like effect on the oak cells, forming the apple, inside which the larvae fed in their chambers.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/may/29/country-diary-today-was-once-a-public-holiday-thanks-to-these-oak-apples">Continue reading...</a> Trees and forests Environment Rural affairs UK news Monarchy Fri, 29 May 2026 04:30:40 GMT https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/may/29/country-diary-today-was-once-a-public-holiday-thanks-to-these-oak-apples Photograph: Paul Evans Photograph: Paul Evans Photograph: Paul Evans Paul Evans 2026-05-29T04:30:40Z https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/may/28/country-diary-mayday-mayday-the-heatwave-is-killing-the-swallow-chicks <p><strong>Caistor St Edmund, Norfolk:</strong> Adult swallows travel across the world to breed in Britain’s supposedly temperate climate. Instead, this week’s temperatures have been deadly</p><p>Mouth gaping, the swallow chick leans perilously over the edge of the nest cup. It is young, just a scrap of body, and at least a week away from being ready to fledge. But under the tin roof the heat is rising, becoming unbearable.</p><p>The chick perches on the edge of the nest, opening and closing its mouth, trying to stay cool in the absence of sweat glands. Then, it’s hard to tell if it overbalances, seeking cooler air, or makes a decision. Either way, it plunges down, dropping with no hope of flight. Somehow it misses the hard breezeblock ledge, and fortunately lands on the horse bedding.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/may/28/country-diary-mayday-mayday-the-heatwave-is-killing-the-swallow-chicks">Continue reading...</a> Environment Rural affairs Birds Animals Wildlife Climate crisis Summer UK news Thu, 28 May 2026 04:30:54 GMT https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/may/28/country-diary-mayday-mayday-the-heatwave-is-killing-the-swallow-chicks Photograph: Kate Blincoe Photograph: Kate Blincoe Photograph: Kate Blincoe Kate Blincoe 2026-05-28T04:30:54Z https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/may/27/country-diary-perilous-puffins-and-a-plucky-underdog <p><strong>Swanage, Dorset:</strong> While the seabirds here make the headlines, my eye is drawn to the unassuming rock pipit and its accelerating song</p><p>It’s a stunning evening for a walk at Durlston Country Park. The position of its headland on the south-west coast of England makes it a fantastic place to watch bird migration in action. As I walk along the coastal path, enjoying the panoramic sea views, barn swallows arrive from across the&nbsp;Channel.</p><p>Below is a cacophony of sound coming from the cliff edges; this part of the Jurassic Coast is home to a breeding colony of seabirds, with <a href="https://www.birdsofpooleharbour.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/Purbeck-seabird-survey-2025.pdf">last year’s survey</a> recording 1,377 guillemots, 179 razorbills, 12&nbsp;fulmars and just six puffins.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/may/27/country-diary-perilous-puffins-and-a-plucky-underdog">Continue reading...</a> Birds Environment Rural affairs Coastlines Wildlife UK news Animals Dorset Conservation Wed, 27 May 2026 04:30:17 GMT https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/may/27/country-diary-perilous-puffins-and-a-plucky-underdog Photograph: Richardom/Alamy Photograph: Richardom/Alamy Photograph: Richardom/Alamy Mya Bambrick 2026-05-27T04:30:17Z https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/may/26/uk-sees-huge-rise-in-battery-cow-dairy-farms-investigation-reveals <p>Investigation finds number of dairy farms where cows cannot go outside has more than doubled since 2015</p><p>There has been a huge rise in factory-style dairy farming of “battery cows” in the UK as farmers struggle with increasing costs and face selling milk at a loss.</p><p>The number of intensive dairy farms that permanently confine some of their cattle indoors has more than doubled in the past 10 years, an investigation by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism (BIJ) has found. Data suggests there are now at least 180 dairy farms where cows have no access to the outdoors, up from about 70 in 2015.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/may/26/uk-sees-huge-rise-in-battery-cow-dairy-farms-investigation-reveals">Continue reading...</a> Farming Animal welfare Environment Rural affairs UK news Tue, 26 May 2026 11:56:35 GMT https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/may/26/uk-sees-huge-rise-in-battery-cow-dairy-farms-investigation-reveals Photograph: Ann and Steve Toon/Alamy Photograph: Ann and Steve Toon/Alamy Photograph: Ann and Steve Toon/Alamy Andrew Wasley 2026-05-26T11:56:35Z https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/may/26/country-diary-a-jaw-dropping-bounty-of-wildlife-and-a-reminder-of-what-britain-has-lost <p><strong>Biebrza marshes, Poland:</strong> It’s not just the abundance of elks, orchids and eagles that sets the mind racing, it’s the wild interactions between the ‘exotic’ and the familiar</p><p>Have I made a mistake in visiting <a href="https://bbpn.gov.pl/biebrza-national-park">Biebrza national park</a>? Not that I mind encountering more bird species in a day than I do in a year at home. Nor do I regret meeting a young elk, all gangle and improbable proportions; or kneeling before a clump of <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cx2r3rkg3m8o">lady’s slipper orchid</a> in jaw-droppingly ostentatious bloom among <a href="https://www.rhs.org.uk/plants/89364/polygonatum-hybridum/details">Solomon’s seal</a> and a carpet of lily of the valley. I definitely appreciate the homely clatter of the neighbourhood white storks, and the constant soundtrack of cuckoos and golden orioles. I certainly have no objection to watching the sunset from a wood-fired hot tub, listening to corncrakes as bats emerge and a beaver cruises past.</p><p>But something shifts in me when, in the space of a few minutes in an observation tower, we watch <a href="https://www.birdguides.com/articles/identification/marsh-tern-photo-id-guide/">three species of marsh tern</a> hanging like precision-engineered angels to tweezer insects from the water’s surface, and a white-tailed eagle hunting greylag geese then settling with its mate in a dead tree to watch a train of common cranes in the field below meeting a lone fox, all leaping as if in mock surprise, before going unconcernedly on their way.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/may/26/country-diary-a-jaw-dropping-bounty-of-wildlife-and-a-reminder-of-what-britain-has-lost">Continue reading...</a> Poland Wildlife Plants Environment Rural affairs UK news Animals Birds Tue, 26 May 2026 04:30:44 GMT https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/may/26/country-diary-a-jaw-dropping-bounty-of-wildlife-and-a-reminder-of-what-britain-has-lost Photograph: Bernard Bialorucki/Alamy Photograph: Bernard Bialorucki/Alamy Photograph: Bernard Bialorucki/Alamy Amy-Jane Beer 2026-05-26T04:30:44Z https://www.theguardian.com/business/2026/may/25/rise-in-shoplifting-and-theft-in-uk-finds-nine-in-10-retailers-in-rural-areas-targeted <p>Exclusive: Research shows cost of crime for each affected business was on average £83,000 in past year</p><p>Nine in 10 retailers based in rural locations have been victims of crime in the past 12 months, according to research, underlining the widespread impact of the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026/may/17/crime-serious-barrier-uk-growth-business-leaders">rise in shoplifting and theft</a> even in more remote parts of the UK.</p><p>Rural retailers include farm shops as well as stores selling machinery and other equipment. The financial cost of crime for each affected retailer was on average £83,000 during the past year, according to a survey carried out by the commercial insurer NFU Mutual. Meanwhile, one in 20 victims said crime had cost them more than half a million pounds.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2026/may/25/rise-in-shoplifting-and-theft-in-uk-finds-nine-in-10-retailers-in-rural-areas-targeted">Continue reading...</a> Retail industry Crime Business UK news Rural affairs Farming Mon, 25 May 2026 11:00:24 GMT https://www.theguardian.com/business/2026/may/25/rise-in-shoplifting-and-theft-in-uk-finds-nine-in-10-retailers-in-rural-areas-targeted Photograph: Supplied Photograph: Supplied Photograph: Supplied Joanna Partridge 2026-05-25T11:00:24Z https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/may/25/country-diary-1951-the-village-repair-shop-yorkshire <p><strong>25 May 1951</strong>: An old forge has been turned into a workshop where beaten copper trays and other metal wares may be seen or bought</p><p>YORKSHIRE NR: We are fortunate in this delightful village in having several craftsmen, each one of exceptional merit in his own medium of metal, stone, or wood. An old village forge has been turned into a workshop where beaten copper trays and other metal wares may be seen or bought, while beside the beck a heavy oak seat has recently been placed as a memorial to two one-time members of the village population. Our war memorial tablet is the work of the village mason, who has lately decorated his own small garden with a miniature stone cottage roofed with clay pantiles and fronted by a low garden wall. A delightful addition this would make to a miniature rock and water garden tucked away in a corner in our nearest seaside town.</p><p>Pied flycatchers, which continue to multiply along the stream sides in the forest where boxes are provided, seem unable to establish themselves in or near the village. Last year a pair built in the hole used before by the nuthatch pair, but nothing came of their efforts. This year a male has been singing hard at a box on the weeping willow in my own garden but has not yet been able to attract a mate. Another cock in a beech wood has secured a suitable hole in an elm but he too is without a wife. This bird carries a coloured ring which shows that he was hatched last year in a box farther up the dale.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/may/25/country-diary-1951-the-village-repair-shop-yorkshire">Continue reading...</a> Rural affairs Environment Birds Mon, 25 May 2026 05:00:18 GMT https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/may/25/country-diary-1951-the-village-repair-shop-yorkshire Photograph: Bill Tompkins/Getty Images Photograph: Bill Tompkins/Getty Images Photograph: Bill Tompkins/Getty Images Ronald Garnett 2026-05-25T05:00:18Z https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/may/25/country-diary-one-turn-inland-and-the-valley-opens-up-before-me <p><strong>Talybont, Ceredigion:</strong> On a crisp, post-rain morning, I take a walk among bright hawthorn blossom and the glittering pools of Cors Fochno</p><p>On the edge of Talybont, the small cemetery, kempt and cared for, overlooks the coast and the wild brown swathe of Cors Fochno (Borth Bog). A burial ground is perhaps an odd place to begin a walk, but, as a friend remarked, it’s&nbsp;infinitely better than ending one&nbsp;there.</p><p>The early rain has cleared so the air is crisp and the colours deep. In the foreground, grassland fields slope away towards the wild expanse of the bog, bounded by wooded hedgerows bright with hawthorn blossom. The first cut of silage has been secured, baled and removed, and a few cattle are grazing the aftermath with interest while red kites traverse overhead. The surface of the bog, marked here and there by glittering open pools, shimmers slightly in the heat of the day. Across the Afon Dyfi, the steep-faced sand dunes of <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/jan/01/country-diary-gales-tear-sand-from-the-foreshore">Aberdyfi</a> are visible before the eye is drawn further off to the line of hills that defines the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/jul/27/country-diary-a-jungle-of-seaweed-a-busy-spider-crab-a-bobbing-seal">Llŷn peninsula</a>.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/may/25/country-diary-one-turn-inland-and-the-valley-opens-up-before-me">Continue reading...</a> Spring Wildlife Environment Rural affairs Animals Trees and forests UK news Mon, 25 May 2026 04:30:15 GMT https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/may/25/country-diary-one-turn-inland-and-the-valley-opens-up-before-me Photograph: John Gilbey Photograph: John Gilbey Photograph: John Gilbey John Gilbey 2026-05-25T04:30:15Z https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/may/23/young-country-diary-we-walked-to-the-mountains-but-they-were-on-fire <p><strong>Mourne Mountains, County Down: </strong>At first it didn’t seem like much so we carried on, but then it got worse – we could hear the flames across the valley</p><p>It all started at around half past 10. We were at <a href="https://walkni.com/walks/hen-cock-and-pigeon-rock/">Hen, Cock and Pigeon Rock</a> which is a good route with views of the Mourne mountains and the sea. We were walking up a path when we saw smoke in the distance. It wasn’t very much so we kept going. It has been unusually dry here, and the top grass was crispy, with squelchy mud underneath. We saw tadpoles in a puddle, but the puddle seemed small.</p><p>As we were going up one of the mountains, we saw how much smoke there really was. Soon after that we could see a ring of flames. We weren’t close, but and we could hear it across the valley. The smoke was starting to block out the sun.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/may/23/young-country-diary-we-walked-to-the-mountains-but-they-were-on-fire">Continue reading...</a> Environment Rural affairs UK news Northern Ireland Sat, 23 May 2026 10:00:27 GMT https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/may/23/young-country-diary-we-walked-to-the-mountains-but-they-were-on-fire Photograph: Family handout Photograph: Family handout Photograph: Family handout 2026-05-23T10:00:27Z https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/may/23/young-country-diary-helping-a-butterfly-into-its-new-phase-of-life <p><strong>Cambridgeshire:</strong> It was nearly ready to fly but it was partly out of its chrysalis and partly still in it</p><p>On Sunday morning, I was pottering in the garden wondering what to do. I saw a flapping coming from my wildflower patch, so I went to my clump of clover. I pushed it away, only to reveal a <a href="https://butterfly-conservation.org/butterflies/large-white">large white butterfly</a> fresh out of its chrysalis. It had been drying its damp wings in the sun.</p><p>Then I realised that part of the butterfly’s chrysalis was still on its wing, and the other wing was already dry and ready to fly. I watched the butterfly for a while. The butterfly tried to get the chrysalis off, but it had used up all its energy. I realised that it needed some help, so I tugged the chrysalis as gently as I could. The butterfly didn’t move but the chrysalis did, so I tugged a little bit harder and off it came.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/may/23/young-country-diary-helping-a-butterfly-into-its-new-phase-of-life">Continue reading...</a> Environment Rural affairs UK news Insects Butterflies Wildlife Animals Sat, 23 May 2026 10:00:25 GMT https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/may/23/young-country-diary-helping-a-butterfly-into-its-new-phase-of-life Photograph: Family handout Photograph: Family handout Photograph: Family handout 2026-05-23T10:00:25Z https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/may/22/country-diary-violence-precision-and-a-free-lunch-welcome-to-the-weird-world-of-pollination <p><strong>Willington, County Durham:</strong> On a fine May morning, there’s no better time to look at the stunning array of ways that bees and flowers have co-evolved to interact</p><p>“It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a wild flower in possession of a fortune in nectar and pollen, must be in want of a pollinator,” Jane Austen <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/5882-it-is-a-truth-universally-acknowledged-that-a-single-man">might have written</a>, had she been a botanist. All along this former railway line, on a sunny May morning, there are thousands of newly opened flowers&nbsp;laden with such inducements, vying for the attention of foraging bumblebees. And none delivers its pollen with such deception and violence as <a href="https://bsbi.org/in-your-area/local-botany/co-fermanagh/fermanagh-species-accounts/cytisus-scoparius-link-sarcothamnus-scoparius-w-d-j-koch">broom</a> <a href="https://bsbi.org/in-your-area/local-botany/co-fermanagh/fermanagh-species-accounts/cytisus-scoparius-link-sarcothamnus-scoparius-w-d-j-koch">(<em>Cytisus scoparius</em></a>).</p><p>A large bumblebee arrives, settles briefly, finds no nectar and departs, leaving a deranged tangle of stamens protruding from the petals. What happened? Poking my finger into an intact flower, to mimic the visitor, there’s an explosion of pollen as 10 stamens and a coiled stigma, confined in the boat-shaped keel petal, break free. Simultaneously, they deliver and collect pollen, with a gut-punch to the insect’s furry abdomen. Bumblebees don’t seem to mind; the trap has been tripped in almost every flower on this bush.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/may/22/country-diary-violence-precision-and-a-free-lunch-welcome-to-the-weird-world-of-pollination">Continue reading...</a> Wild flowers Environment Rural affairs UK news Bees Insects Evolution Fri, 22 May 2026 04:30:48 GMT https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/may/22/country-diary-violence-precision-and-a-free-lunch-welcome-to-the-weird-world-of-pollination Photograph: Phil Gates Photograph: Phil Gates Photograph: Phil Gates Phil Gates 2026-05-22T04:30:48Z