David Metz, UCL UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has announced £2 billion to create thousands of miles of protected bike lanes and pedestrian space. There are lots of good reasons to encourage walking and cycling – active travel, as it’s called. The pandemic necessitates social distancing on public transport, which […]

Pexels Avril Rowley, Liverpool John Moores University Most adults will remember spending much of their childhood playing outdoors without much parental supervision. But fears for children’s safety plus the demands of modern life mean many parents don’t allow their children the same freedoms. We live in an age where people […]

Gammarus duebeni, the shrimp-like animal that can break down microplastic. Alicia Mateos Cárdenas, Author provided Alicia Mateos Cárdenas, University College Cork Microplastics are widespread in seas and oceans, and their harmful effects on many different marine animals are well known. However, we know relatively little about the microplastics in our […]

The Government has updated the guidelines for being outside. It says the risk of the coronavirus being passed on to others outdoors is considered to be low as long as people maintain social distancing. Here is what is said, with a few comments of my own: In England, from today you […]

The Government is advocating we all tune in to the dawn chorus over Easter. People, I have been doing this for ages. However, it is highly recommended. Tried to upload my dawn chorus movie but it isn’t working! Natural England is rallying the nation to connect with nature this Easter […]

Blue tits are regulars at the garden bird feeder. Mark Fellowes, Author provided Mark Fellowes, University of Reading and Ian D. Rotherham, Sheffield Hallam University Being stuck at home during lockdown could be a golden opportunity to reset your connection with nature. If you’re lucky, you’ll still have access to […]

Simon Evans, Anglia Ruskin University There will be few positives to take from coronavirus. But the global pandemic may yet prove to be an important moment in the attempts to address the illegal wildlife trade. The media has generally concentrated on effects rather than causes, in particular the global implications […]

By Helen Shingler: I’ve been spending a lot of time lately just staring out the window at our bird feeders, marvelling at the way life just carries on for our little feathered friends!  They aren’t aware of the Coronavirus crisis affecting us globally.  They are just going about their daily […]

Paul Ashton, Edge Hill University Written on the final, frozen day of 1900, Thomas Hardy’s poem The Darkling Thrush describes a harsh, ice-blasted landscape devoid of life. Hardy’s depiction of a time “when frost was spectre-gray” evokes a winter that is beginning to exist only in memory. The winter of […]

We talk about plastics and cars as pollutants, but what about the telly which so many people love so much? It may be time to quit the plasma and return to the old portable. TVs are exceedingly damaging to the environment because they are built from toxic chemicals and heavy […]