Alien director Ridley Scott's expletive reaction to seeing new TV spin-off
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Rhyl Journal
19 minutes ago
- Rhyl Journal
£13m scheme boosts rare wildlife but experts warn ‘time running out' for nature
The Species Recovery Programme's capital grants scheme, which ran from August 2023 to March 2025, saw Government nature agency Natural England invest in targeted conservation efforts to help rare wildlife such as water voles, oystercatchers and lady's slipper orchids. Natural England said the scheme supported the recovery of more than 150 species, many of which were on the brink of national extinction, through creating habitat, captive breeding and translocating wildlife to help it expand into new areas, and research. The scheme has scored successes including the first wild-hatched red-billed chough chick fledging in Kent for more than 200 years, the reintroduction of black grouse to the North Yorkshire Moors and the return of the large marsh grasshopper to the Norfolk Broads after 85 years, Natural England said. Tunnels have been installed under a road in Berkshire to allow adders to cross, disused buildings have been made ideal for bat breeding in Sussex and the first example of lady's slipper orchids naturally propagating in the wild has been recorded in Yorkshire. The scheme invested in 63 different projects from the Lizard Peninsula in Cornwall to Cumbria and Northumberland, working with 78 organisations to create or enhance 2,400 hectares (5,900 acres) of wildlife-rich habitat. That includes 143 'leaky dams' to support Atlantic salmon, white-clawed crayfish and freshwater pearl mussels, at the same time as reducing flood risk and improving water quality. And more than 15,000 individual animals and plants were translocated to expand species' territories, as well as captive breeding more than 12,000 individuals including invertebrates, mammals and birds. Natural England chairman Tony Juniper said the success of the programme showed nature could be restored, but warned there was a need for more projects, more volunteers and more money, particularly from the private sector. And there needed to be action to improve the environment, such as reducing pollution. He will tell an event on Wednesday to mark the success of the grant scheme held at Brandon Marsh, Warwickshire, where rare bitterns are staging a comeback: 'A rising number of nature recovery projects, both large and small, are making a huge difference up and down the country. 'The success of this programme is an example of how much we can do when we take a joined up, collaborative approach to restoring the natural world. 'We know we can turn round species decline and improve ecosystems with the right targeted actions, the drive and the funding. 'But time is running out fast – turning round nature's decline needs to be a collective endeavour, so this is not just the preserve of dedicated specialists. 'Nature recovery work needs more projects, more volunteers and more money to flow from all sources, particularly the private sector. 'It will also need to go hand in hand with improved environmental quality, including through reduced pollution.' The Government is set to publish a revised environmental improvement plan in the autumn to deliver legally binding green targets, after the Office for Environmental Protection watchdog said the previous government was largely off-track to meet the goals. Mr Juniper said the publication would be a 'key moment', warning there needed to be increased ambition on species recovery, in particular what could be done on some of the wildlife England has lost. 'In the coming years, habitat management and creation alongside species reintroductions could be a real game changer for the health of ecosystems and help us achieve the country's legally binding targets,' he said. Natural England is also publishing a threatened species recovery actions guide detailing how to support more than 1,000 of England's most threatened species, from the small pearl-bordered fritillary butterfly, corncrake and natterjack toad to tiny lichens. Richard Benwell, chief executive of the Wildlife and Countryside Link coalition of conservation groups, said: 'Today's results prove species conservation works – but it's still run on a shoestring, with short-term pots of money far from enough to halt nature's decline. 'Government must boost public funding and mandate private investment to multiply this impact tenfold. 'The new environmental improvement plan should also lock in a long-term pipeline of funding for species and the habitats they rely on, combining public and private finance to turn one-off wins into lasting recovery.'
Leader Live
20 minutes ago
- Leader Live
Friday's EuroMillions jackpot estimated to hit £201m
While no one matched the jackpot, one UK player came close – winning £680,767 for matching five numbers and one Lucky Star. The National Lottery EuroMillions winning numbers are 18, 28, 42, 46 and 48. The lucky stars are 03 and 09. No tickets matched all five numbers to take home £1,000,000 in EuroMillions Hotpicks, which uses the same numbers as the EuroMillions draw. Three players matched four numbers, winning £30,000 each. Tuesday's National Lottery Thunderball winning numbers are 21, 29, 34, 36 and 38. The Thunderball is 08. No one took home the £500,000 top prize, but one player matched five numbers to win £5,000.
Leader Live
20 minutes ago
- Leader Live
VE Day overshadows VJ Day, veterans' descendants say
Passers-by paused to watch recordings of loved ones' reading excerpts from the notes at the free installation to commemorate VJ Day. One message, heard at the launch in central London on Tuesday, said: 'I'll think of you wherever you are, if it be near or far. I'll think of you. We'll meet again someday, when dreams come true.' Another line, from a doctor in a Japanese prisoner of war camp, read: 'Our dreams have finally come true. The nightmare is over.' VJ Day on August 15 marks the anniversary of Japan's surrender to the Allies following the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, effectively ending the Second World War. Veronica Silander's father was an RAF airman and prisoner of war in Batavia, now Jakarta in Indonesia, and wrote his letter around two months after he was captured. It was the first message Ms Silander's mother had received from Maurice Read since he was taken and it included the line: 'So once again, do not worry please. I am OK and intend to remain so.' As the letters played on the large screens behind, Ms Silander told the PA news agency: 'The youngsters need to know about (VJ Day), I think it's often in the shadow of VE Day. 'I think probably 80 years, you know, even people like myself are not going to be around that had direct contact with somebody, so I think we should mark it.' She added: 'I think my mother must have been very distressed to know that he was still a prisoner when all the celebration was going on.' Her father rarely spoke about the war but would say 'when you woke up in the morning, you didn't know who was going to be dead beside you'. Ms Silander knows little more than that he trained in Auckland, New Zealand, and was captured two weeks after they were taken to Singapore by sea. Families received leaflets telling them 'do not ask the veterans about the war', she said. 'I think they just wanted them to come home and forget about it,' she added. John Sanderson served with the Royal Navy in the Far East between 1944 and 1946, and his letter to his fiance included the line 'we'll meet again someday, when dreams come true'. His son, Brian Sanderson, told PA: 'My father always said VJ Day was forgotten.' He would tell his wife that while people were dancing on VE Day 'I had kamikaze pilots coming down on me still'. VJ Day was hardly marked until recently, Mr Sanderson said, adding that his parents did not often speak about the war. 'That's the sad thing, is that we never asked them, they never spoke about it, and the stories have gone – I have no-one left from the Second World War,' he said. The installation runs until Saturday at Outernet, near Tottenham Court Road station, and was organised in partnership with the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS).
