Below us, as the aeroplane started its descent, the lights of Tashkent stretched as far as the horizon. The capital of Uzbekistan is home to over two and half million people, making it the largest city in Central Asia. I was arriving there, close to midnight, on a visit to meet our Conservation Partner Elena …

Veronica and John‘s medium-sized suburban garden is about two miles outside a city in the north of England. ‘We read a lot about the importance of gardens as potential spaces for wildlife to flourish, so we decided to join the Living with Mammals survey. That was in 2006, and we’ve been going ever since.’ Fifteen-year-old …

A landmark report published today [10th November 2023] by wildlife charity People’s Trust for Endangered Species (PTES) reveals that Britain’s native hazel dormice (Muscardinus avellanarius) population has declined by a staggering 70% since 2000 and have been lost from 20 English counties since the Victorian times. Hazel dormice are charismatic, small, native rodents with soft …

This summer, two keen members of Wren Wildlife and Conservation Group in Northeast London took part in our stag beetle count. Laura Bower, PTES’ Conservation Officer, spoke to Sybil and Nate about how they took their participation to another level by encouraging friends and neighbours to look out for stag beetles too and create dead …

Inspired by the recent Hedgehog Friendly Fencing campaign, Jewson will soon offer gravel boards with pre-installed Hedgehog Highways, giving hedgehogs vital access to gardens. National builders’ merchant Jewson is the first major national company to sign-up to Hedgehog Street’s ‘Hedgehog Friendly Fencing’ campaign, which was launched in July. Jewson has pledged to help native hedgehogs …

PTES’ Habitat Officer, Megan Gimber, recollects a recent trip to Northumberland, organised by the Coquetdale Branch of the Wildlife Trust, to meet farmer Kevin and learn how he has restored his hedgerows. Northumberland hedgerows at their finest A recent visit to Northumberland had me flabbergasted at the difference one person can make. In an area …

Snow Leopard Trust scientists are back in the field collaring snow leopards in Mongolia as part of their long-term ecological study of this endangered species and its habitat. The team of international and Mongolian conservationists have safely collared and studied more individual snow leopards than anyone else on the planet. This knowledge is crucial to …

Bushfire at Roach’s mouse-tailed dormouse study site During the early autumn, we contacted our conservation leader, Nedko Nedyalkov who’s based in Bulgaria, to find out how his research on the Roach’s mouse-tailed dormouse has been progressing. Mouse-tailed dormice – or Myomimus (pronounced me-oh-me-mus) – are one of our most endangered dormouse species. Previously found in …

Benfield Wildlife and Conservation Group (BWCG) I was delighted when Yvette Austin, the environment correspondent for BBC Southeast, asked me if she could film the monthly Benfield Wildlife and Conservation Group dormouse box check. So how did this come about? I’m the chair of Benfield Wildlife and Conservation Group (BWCG) and my passion is sharing …

One of the most useful things to be able to do is predict the future. This is made easier, of course, when the future repeats itself, when spring follows winter, follows autumn, follows summer, follows spring, and lots of animals are adept at predicting future circumstances. You might remember Paul the Octopus who successfully predicted …

Butterflies and moths Jim Baldwin, our wonderful volunteer surveyor, has continued his 16-week long UK Butterfly Monitoring Scheme survey in Briddlesford. He surveyed, for a couple of hours at a time, on two consecutive weeks in July. In the first week he recorded an amazing 699 butterflies of 17 species and then 590 butterflies of …

38 dormice are released into a woodland at NT Calke Abbey, Derbyshire, in a bid to boost the population of this native species that has experienced a 51% decline since 2000 This week, 38 rare hazel dormice are being reintroduced into the heart of the National Forest by wildlife charity People’s Trust for Endangered Species …