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Vera Boyd, Вулиця Лугова, 12, Kyiv (2025)

19/06/2024

'We need our water to be clean'

With river and sea pollution dominating headlines in recent years, what do voters want politicians to do about the issue?
"Our very existence depends on water and it needs to be clean," says Louise Wainwright, standing on a bank of the River Avon in Devon.
The waterway covers a 23-mile (37km) stretch from its source on Dartmoor to the Avon Dam, where water is siphoned off for drinking, to the sea at Bigbury Bay where people play in the surf.
"This looks like a picture postcard river, but it simply is not,” says Mrs Wainwright.

The 67-year-old, who lives near the river, set up the South Devon River Champions in response to "the increasing evidence of the ecological damage to aquatic life that swims, lives and breathes in these waters all year round".
She said: "They have no vote or voice, they have suffered long before it became so bad that you might need to think twice before swimming in it."
The "forever chemicals, agricultural pollution, and sewage pollution all need to be addressed to restore the health of our rivers", she added.
"And for that, we need a government that actually puts the environment first."

Along the river's banks are a series of sewage treatment plants with storm water overflows (SWO) which can be used when capacity is exceeded during heavy rainfall, especially if dry ground cannot quickly absorb large quantities of water.
Water companies are allowed to release a limited amount of sewage during periods of excess rain, but there is also evidence of "dry spills", which can damage the local environment and pose a health risk to swimmers.
Environment Agency figures show that last year four treatment plants, at South Brent, Diptford, Moreleigh and Aveton Gifford, discharged sewage into the river 397 times for a total of 4,678 hours.

31/05/2024

Sea bird shootings are 'barbaric', charity says

An animal rescue charity says three attacks on herring gulls with air rifles in West Sussex are "barbaric" acts.
The most recent casualties were found in Ferring and Worthing town centre.
Wadars animal rescue charity, based in Ferring, says it believes that more than one person has carried out the attacks.
Billy Elliott, senior animal rescue officer, said: “Not only is this disgusting act illegal, but it is also extremely cruel, especially at this time of year when the birds are having their young."
He said two of the three birds attacked in the last fortnight had to be put to sleep because of their injuries.
"They may well also have been sitting on chicks which will now more than likely starve to death,” he said.
“Like all wild birds, herring gulls are protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, and anyone found guilty of killing or harming one, or disturbing a nest, can be heavily fined and/or given a prison sentence.”
Worldwide, herring gull numbers have dramatically reduced over the past 50 years, and they are on the red list in the UK because they are in critical decline, a Wadars spokesperson said.
The charity has appealed for anyone with information on the attacks to contact Sussex Police.

15/05/2024

Rare plant thrives at nature reserve

A plant species thought to be lost for nearly 100 years has flowered with nearly 2,000 feathery spikes at a nature reserve near York.

Ecologists said they were astounded in April to come across a sudden and exuberant display of the slender sedge plant population at Askham Bog.

The species was thought lost from the reserve in 1930, and was rediscovered in 2021by Alastair Fitter, Emeritus Professor of Ecology at the University of York and trustee at the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust.

Prof Fitter said: “The likely trigger for this mass flowering is the very wet winter we’ve just had and the part of the bog where slender sedge grows still has standing water in early May."

Slender sedge is still quite widespread in the hills of northern and western Britain, but most lowland populations have been lost as a result of drainage.

Its rediscovery in 2021 brought the number of known sedges at Askham Bog to 22 species – a third of all British sedge species.

Prof Fitter said: “The rediscovery of a large population of this sedge at Askham Bog suggests that it has survived for nearly 100 years without being noticed by the large numbers of regularly-visiting scientists, probably because it has not flowered."

A single flowerhead was found in 2023 but this is the first mass flowering in living memory.

Askham Bog is Yorkshire Wildlife Trust’s founding reserve.

It is home to a diverse range of plants and animals with over 5% of all British species recorded there.

The trust said it had been working hard to make the bog wetter for many years and other species thought lost from the site had been recorded in the last 10 years.

Prof Fitter said: “If we can bring the water level back up to where it used to be that would benefit other lost species such as crested buckler fern, last seen over 100 years ago and now extinct in Yorkshire, and help restore the bog to its former glory.

"Despite many years of study and visits here, Askham Bog continues to surprise me.

"Who knows what we might find and what might appear unexpectedly from the depths of the bog if Askham Bog is given a chance to recover?”

20/04/2024

Thousands of tulips in bloom for festival

Over 18,000 tulips are on display at a festival in East Yorkshire.

One hundred and thirty varieties can be seen at Burnby Hall Gardens near Pocklington.

Some of the tulips are displayed in flower beds, others in tubs placed around the gardens.

Head Gardener Jill Ward said the event was the culmination of months of preparation by herself and the gardening team.

Ms Ward told BBC Radio Humberside: "We start planting them in November and we finish in December. We are waiting until spring then they suddenly appear and we have this glorious colour.

"It's something really to look forward to when you are planting up in cold weather".

Work began creating Burnby Hall Gardens in 1904.

They were granted National Collection status in the 1990s and now attract about 97,000 visitors a year, according to the gardens' website, with many coming to see the tulips.

"One of the things I've tried to change this year is the amount of mixes we've got," Ms Ward explained.

"There's a lot of different colours in these beds. Normally we would just have one colour in a bed but this year we've gone for lots of mixes."

"Different generations are enjoying it for different reasons and I really love it when people come and start asking questions about the garden because you know they are really interested in it," she added.

The Tulip Festival runs from 20 April to 4 May and is open each day from 10:00 to 17:30 BST.

09/04/2024

Eclipse 2024: Cloudy skies scupper UK hopes of watching partial eclipse

People hoping to glimpse the eclipse in the UK were left disappointed by cloudy skies and missed out on the phenomenon.

A solar eclipse - when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, obscuring the view of the Sun from Earth - took place on Monday.

Tens of millions of people in the US watched it sweep across a broad swathe of North America.

But experts doubted whether anyone in the UK was able to witness a partial eclipse because of the weather.

A partial eclipse - where a little bit of the Sun is covered by the Moon - would have been visible from western parts of the UK from 19:55 BST until sunset.

"I'm wondering whether or not anybody in the UK actually saw it," said Dr Robert Massey, deputy executive director at the Royal Astronomical Society.

"There seem to be people saying it's cloudy in Cornwall, cloudy in west Wales - there's an outside chance people might be seeing it from a youth hostel on the Isle of Harris, in the Western Isles."

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Met Office forecaster Simon Partridge added: "The chances are most of England and Wales probably wouldn't have seen it anyway."

He added that outside the north-west of Scotland, the eclipse would have been "very, very small" anyway and "probably not actually noticeable" even if clouds had not obscured it.

The next total solar eclipse visible from the UK will not be for another six decades, in 2090. The last one was in 1999.

A total solar eclipse is scheduled for parts of Europe and North America in 2026.

On social media, Britons shared pictures of solid grey clouds overhead, with some joking and calling the view "breathtaking" and "beautiful".

One man called Lewis, based in Castlederg, County Tyrone, told the BBC he was in a favourable spot to see the partial eclipse but there was "naff all to be seen".

"We took a quick drive to some higher ground after work to make the most of the cosmic event," he said. "It's safe to say we saw an utterly jaw-dropping set of cloud formations!"

But Prof Don Pollacco, from the department of physics at the University of Warwick who travelled to Texas to view it, said British spectators did not miss much because "partial eclipses are really boring" anyway.

"I wouldn't bother watching any partial eclipses - I think they're a waste of time," he said.

He described total eclipses as "very magical", adding: "I'm a scientist, and I'm saying it's magical."

In Mexico, the US and Canada, many were treated to a truly breathtaking display of the Sun's outer atmosphere, or corona, which is usually obscured by its own intense glare.

People gathered in groups, welcoming the moment with choruses of claps and gasps.

Louis Boulet, who watched the eclipse from the other Cornwall in eastern Canada, described it as "a mixture of cosmic beauty and terror".

19/03/2024

Rutland Osprey Project: Hope prolific bird will have even more chicks

A female osprey has returned to Rutland Water from migration for the 16th year in a row, leading to hopes she will have even more chicks.

Maya is already the Rutland Osprey Project's most successful breeding bird, having had 37 juveniles fledge from her nests.

The project, which has been running since 1996, has helped to repopulate ospreys in England.

They were once common, until humans drove them to extinction in the UK.

'Huge impact nationwide'
George Smith, an information officer for Leicestershire and Rutland Wildlife Trust, which runs the project, said Maya had played a significant role in repopulating ospreys.

"For an osprey, she's quite a considerably experienced osprey," he said.

"This is the 16th year she has returned to Rutland, but the 15th year she's breeding.

"Quite a considerable number of ospreys - not only in our region but across the UK - are related to Maya genetically, so she's had a huge impact nationwide."

Maya's arrival back in England was welcomed on the project's page.

"It's so bizarre that knowing this osprey has returned has made me inordinately happy," said one commenter.

Another said: "Welcome home Maya after your long journey. So many people delighted and relieved to see you back."

Another person added: "This is wonderful news. I always feel so happy to see her home."

Maya and the other ospreys spend the winter in Africa, Mr Smith said, but it is not known exactly where she goes as she is not ringed.

However, he said they were able to recognise Maya when she arrived back at Rutland because of her "really distinctive plumage".

She touched down on her Manton Bay nest on 12 March, making this her joint earliest date back.

"Maya's earlier return is crucial to her because it's imperative she's able to reclaim her old nesting site before other ospreys are able to get back," said Mr Smith.

06/03/2024

University of Exeter proud of space station astronaut

Colleagues of an astronaut who teaches at a UK university said it was an "amazing honour" to see him on board the International Space Station (ISS).

American Dr Mike Barratt, pilot of the Crew-8 mission, teaches space medicine at the University of Exeter.

He was among three US astronauts and a Russian cosmonaut who successfully arrived at the station on Tuesday.

"We couldn't ask for more, the university is incredibly proud," said colleague, Prof Mark Hannaford.

Dr Barratt, who has been teaching at the university for 14 years, is a "god in space medicine", said Prof Hannaford.

The American, who is on his third visit to the ISS, will be leading experiments on the physiology of how bodies adapt to weightlessness.

Insights into loss of muscle mass and bone density will be vital for missions to the Moon and Mars, said Prof Hannaford.

"He is passionate about it and we couldn't have anyone better doing this," he said.

Prof Hannaford was among a team from the university medical school's MSc Extreme Medicine programme who were at the launch from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 22:53 local time (03:53 GMT on Monday).

"There was an element of crossed fingers," he said.

"We are hugely thankful that everything went smoothly, we're really pleased for Mike."

The launch was "mind-blowing" and watching the landing of the re-usable rocket was "amazing", he said.

"I know Mike was looking forward to this, the culmination of years and years of work," he said.

"He will be happy as Larry."

Dr Barratt and the crew, who will be at the space station for six months, have joined a seven-person crew currently at the space station, Nasa said.

14/02/2024

Climate change: Polar bears face starvation threat as ice melts

Some polar bears face starvation as the Arctic sea ice melts because they are unable to adapt their diets to living on land, scientists have found.

The iconic Arctic species normally feed on ringed seals that they catch on ice floes offshore.

But as the ice disappears in a warming world, many bears are spending greater amounts of time on shore, eating bird's eggs, berries and grass.

However the animals rapidly lose weight on land, increasing the risk of death.

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The polar bear has become the poster child for the growing threat of climate change in the Arctic, but the reality of the impact on this species is complicated.

While the number of bears plummeted up to the 1980s this was mainly due to unsustainable hunting.

With greater legal protection, polar bear numbers have risen. But increasing global temperatures are now seen as their biggest threat.

That's because the frozen Arctic seas are key to their survival.

The animals use the sea ice as a platform to hunt ringed seals, which have high concentrations of fat, mostly in late spring and early summer.

But during the warmer months many parts of the Arctic are now increasingly ice-free.

In Western Manitoba where this study was carried out, the ice-free period has increased by three weeks between 1979 and 2015.

To understand how the animals survive as the ice disappears, researchers followed the activities of 20 polar bears during the summer months over a three-year period.

As well as taking blood samples, and weighing the bears, the animals were fitted with GPS-equipped video camera collars.

This allowed the scientists to record the animals movements, their activities and what they ate.

In the ice-free summer months, the bears adopted different strategies to survive, with some essentially resting and conserving their energy.

The majority tried to forage for vegetation or berries or swam to see if they could find food.

Both approaches failed, with 19 of the 20 bears in the study losing body mass, by up to 11% in some cases.

01/02/2024

National park bid for 'spectacular' Galloway backed

Councillors have given their support in principle to creating a new national park in southern Scotland.

The Scottish government has pledged to establish at least one by the end of this parliamentary session in 2026.

A long-running campaign wants to see a national park set up in Galloway.

Dumfries and Galloway Council's economy committee chairman Ian Carruthers said they were happy to support the bid by a "spectacular part" of the region.

The move is in contrast to neighbouring Scottish Borders Council which dismissed proposals for the area as "half-baked and "incoherent".

At present there are two national parks in Scotland - the Cairngorms and Loch Lomond and the Trossachs - but the nominations process has opened to increase that number.

Local support for any new parks is seen as an important aspect of any bid.

The closing date for nominations comes at the end of February.

Mr Carruthers said the landscape of the area could lend itself to securing national park status.

"Having been described as 'Scotland in miniature' our council recognises that there is a lot of interest and support for a formally designated Galloway National Park," he said.

"I am pleased that we have agreed to support the next steps and look forward to seeing the outcome."

15/01/2024

Marldon community launches its own composting group

A community has launched its own composting group to help get rid of green waste, said South Hams District Council.

Marldon Community Composting Group has been handed £9,000 by the council after its bid reflected its vision to "fight climate change locally".

The council said its own grounds maintenance team could assist with "turning and shredding".

Councillor Jacqi Hodgson said: "Schemes like this are a win-win."

Ms Hodgson, executive member for community composting, said: "They offer communities the chance to recycle green waste in a way that is easy to access and take locally produced compost home for their gardens.

"It also brings people together, promotes the sharing of vital skills and helps reduce our carbon footprint."

The group was helped in their bid by Sustainable South Hams, which the council said it hoped would support more composting projects.

25/12/2023

Norfolk offshore wind farms sold to RWE for £1bn

The rights to develop three of Britain's largest wind farms have been sold by Swedish company Vattenfall to German rival RWE for nearly £1bn.

The projects are known collectively as the Norfolk Offshore Wind Zone.

Earlier this year, Vattenfall paused work on one of the sites, Norfolk Boreas, saying it was no longer financially viable.

Chief executive Anna Borg said: "Today's agreement with RWE is great news for the UK's energy security."

All three sites have government consent to go ahead.

When built they will supply 4.2 gigawatts of power to the UK's grid - about the amount that four million households consume.

In July, Vattenfall stopped work on the Norfolk Boreas site, about 50 miles (80km) off Cromer, saying the cost of building a wind farm had soared by about 40%.

The two other sites, known as Vanguard East and Vanguard West, were also to be reviewed.

Last year, the company won the right to supply power to the grid from Boreas for £37.35 per MWh - a record low for offshore wind.

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Since then, the price paid to generate electricity by offshore wind farms has been raised by more than 50%, as the government tries to entice energy firms to invest.

Vattenfall will stay in the UK as it still runs on and offshore wind farms and is developing a nearly 800 MW floating wind farm in the North Sea.

Ms Borg said: "Both the UK and the offshore market remain attractive over the long term, and we will focus our offshore investments in projects which are appropriate to our current risk appetite while continuing to operate and grow our existing fleet of assets."

The UK is a world leader in offshore wind and is home to the world's five largest farms, supporting tens of thousands of jobs. They provided 13.8% of the UK's electricity generation last year, according to government statistics.

02/12/2023

New nature plan aims to restore the East Yorkshire environment
A new plan is being developed to restore the natural environment in Hull and East Yorkshire.

The Local Nature Recovery Strategy (LNRS) would "identify local priorities for nature recovery, proposing ways to enhance existing nature hotspots and to create new habitats".

It is a partnership between the region's two councils in collaboration with local nature organisations.

The initiative is part a national government scheme.

Hull City councillor Julia Conner said: "Having an urban landscape as a city means we must find new way to support nature and our green spaces.

"Being an integral part of the geographical area, the council has embraced that our open spaces can be multi-faceted and can be used for a wide range options, including biodiversity and nature."

LNRS were introduced as part of the new Environment Act to provide a coordinated approach to nature recovery.

It will also help manage the government's new Environmental Land Management Scheme, which will provide payments to farmers and landowners who deliver environmental benefits.
Councillor Paul West, East Riding of Yorkshire Council's cabinet member for environment, said the authority wanted "to make sure this new strategy meets the needs of our communities, farmers, businesses and, of course, our wildlife".

"I urge everyone to take part in our survey and come along to our workshops," he said.

"By getting involved in the LNRS, you're actively contributing to a greener future for Hull and East Yorkshire."

13/11/2023

If his team don't find life signs on K2-18b, they have 10 more Goldilocks planets on their list to study - and possibly many more after that. Even finding nothing would "provide important insights into the possibility of life on such planets", he says.

His project is just one of many that are under way or planned for the coming years searching for signs of life in the Universe. Some search on the planets in our Solar System - others look much further, into deep space.

12/10/2023

Once the capsule is safely on the ground, it will be whisked off to the Johnson Space Center in Texas, where a dedicated cleanroom has been built to analyse the samples.

Dr Ashley King from London's Natural History Museum (NHM) will be one of the very first scientists to get his gloves on the material. He is part of the "quick look" team that will do the initial analysis.

"Bringing back samples from an asteroid - we don't do that very often. So you want to do those first measurements, and you want to do them really well," he says. "It's incredibly exciting."

05/10/2023

The prevailing thinking is that many of the key components were actually delivered to our planet early in its history in a rain of impacting asteroids, many of them perhaps just like Bennu.

Engineers have commanded the final adjustments to the Osiris-Rex spacecraft's trajectory. All that remains is to make the "go, no-go" decision to release the capsule to fall to Earth this weekend.

25/09/2023

The telescope has other objectives, too, one of which is to show us the detail of how stars are created and how they spawn planets. And it's for this reason that Rho Ophiuchi is a fascinating target for the most powerful observatory in space.

"There's so much going on in this spectacular picture, as young stars splash vibrant colours across the clouds of gas and dust from which they're being born," commented Prof Mark McCaughrean, Esa's senior advisor for science & exploration.

22/09/2023

"JWST is not only going to revolutionise our view of how galaxies were born in the early universe, but also how stars and planets are being made today, much closer to home in our own Milky Way," the astronomer told BBC News.

To underline just what a marvel Webb is, the below image of the Rho Ophiuchi complex was acquired by Nasa's now retired Spitzer space telescope. Spitzer, like Webb, was sensitive to infrared light. It was a very capable facility, but with a primary mirror just 85cm in diameter, it could never have achieved the kind of detail we now see with Webb's 6.5m primary mirror.

Vera Boyd