Environment
Last remaining mud-horse fisherman slams EDF for destroying his old way of living
Britain's last remaining mud-horse fisherman says his business is sinking - because of building work on a new nuclear power station. Dedicated Adrian Sellick, 59, is the fifth generation of his family to use the method - which sees him push a wooden sledge across the treacherous mudflats. The age-old technique allows him to get to the tide's edge where he sticks stakes into the mud and hangs nets between them to catch shrimp and fish in Bridgwater Bay. He...
This is the first picture of a SECOND lynx to die at a British zoo
This is the first picture of a SECOND lynx to die at a British zoo - after it was strangled to death in a freak accident. Bosses at Borth Wild Animal Kingdom confirmed that a second lynx from the zoo had died - a week after another was shot dead after making an escape. Nilly, an adult female Lynx, died from asphyxiation after she became twisted in a catch-pole a keeper was using. The employee in question is apparently devastated...
Only six per cent of the UK has been built on, according to new software
Only six per cent of UK land is built on while five out of six people now live in towns and cities, according to a new atlas. And more than half the land is in agricultural use. The state of the art maps show England is the most urban of the home nations, yet still, only nine per cent of the land is built on. The new maps come from Professor Alasdair Rae, an academic in Sheffield University's Urban Studies...
19 shocking facts about the homelessness epidemic in the UK
Channel 4’s 999: What’s Your Emergency?, which examines the challenging work of the police, paramedics and fire service in Wiltshire. Through their research they have revealed 18 shocking facts about the homeless crisis in the UK. 1.More than 4,000 people are sleeping rough on the Nation’s Streets 2.The need for social housing is now vastly outstripping supply with 1.24 million households on local authority waiting list 3.Over the last 7 years the number of people sleeping on the streets has...
Very rare copy of the first map to name America has emerged
An extraordinarily rare copy of the first map to name America has emerged - and it is expected to sell for almost £1 MILLION. The 1507 map, by Martin Waldseemüller, is being described as a "significant cartographic discovery". It names American for the first time and is also the first map to illustrate separate South and North American continent. The map, by the most important cartographer of the early 16th century, is one of five copies in existence and was...
One in 200 without a home after “decades of failure to build affordable homes & welfare cuts”
As winter closes in life for people on the streets becomes even worse, with an increase chance of death due to the plummeting temperature. With this is mind new research, released today, has indicated that one in 200 people in England is homeless. The report, by Shelter, has found that homelessness has increased 13 per cent this year, with over 307,000 people either in temporary accommodation or literally living out on the streets. Even more worrying is that Shelter believe...
Stunning pictures of Northern Lights bursting alive with colour
Bursting with colour in the night, these aren't fireworks but aurora lighting up the northern skies. These amazing pictures of the northern lights were taken by astrophotographer Juan Carlos Casado in Greenland, Iceland and Finland. He said: "Auroras are one of the most spectacular natural phenomena that can be seen. Bursting with colour in the night, these aren't fireworks but aurora lighting up the northern skies. "They are global spectacles, in the sense that they can cover the whole visible...
Third species of orang-utan recognised…but just “800 remain”
A third species of orangutan has been recognised - but less than a thousand are still alive, warns new research. Previously only two species of orangutans were identified – the Bornean and the Sumatran orangutan. Now, researchers have described a new great ape species, the Tapanuli orangutan. But it is the great ape species at greatest risk of extinction, with only around 800 remaining individuals in upland forest regions of North Sumatra. Two species of Indonesian orangutans had previously been...
Sea slugs target prey that have just eaten to ‘supersize’ their own dinner
Sea slugs are the pirates of the underwater world when it comes to feeding time - targeting prey that have just eaten to "supersize" their own meal. Scientists who identified the behaviour have named it kleptopredation. Researchers from the University of Portsmouth are the first to have observed the brutal feeding strategy in the natural world. Senior lecturer Dr Trevor Willis led the research into the behaviour of nudibranchs, a family of sea slugs, off the coast of Sicily. He...