News

Tree planting is currently at the forefront of many environmental policies. It’s the perfect opportunity to establish new trees in our hedgerow network. Well-managed hedges provide overlapping woodland, flowering scrub and pasture habitats, and mimic the rich environment of a woodland edge. Hedgerow trees are a valuable component in this habitat mosaic.  The wildlife value …

While we can do a lot to encourage wildlife in urban green spaces and improve the green health of our towns and cities, it’s also true that, for some, it can be a jungle out there. Without thinking, we can easily create unintentional hazards around gardens and allotments. Removing these can make these spaces a whole …

Healthy hedgerows do it better Hedgerows are the green veins running through our countryside, and with over 70% land in agricultural use, one of the most important habitats we have. They offer home, food, shelter and corridors to a remarkable number of species, with one study by Robert Wolton counting 2070 different species in just …

Bulgaria: conference host and home to Roach’s mouse-tailed dormouse Fewer than 30 dormouse species are left in the world, the surviving remnants of what was once a widespread and numerous group of rodents. Just three subfamilies remain in sub-saharan Africa, in Europe – from Scandinavia down to Sicily – and in Asia – from southern …

New research has discovered the extent to which common toads live in trees. It’s the first time that the tree climbing potential of amphibians has been investigated at a national scale. A surprising discovery Researchers from the University of Cambridge and Froglife, supported by People’s Trust for Endangered Species (PTES), made the surprising discovery when …

27 June 2022 People’s Trust for Endangered Species (PTES), a UK conservation charity created in 1977, is ensuring a future for endangered species around the world. PTES protects some of the world’s most threatened wildlife species and habitats, and provides practical conservation support through research, grants, educational programmes, wildlife surveys, and publications. PTES’ current priority …

Wildlife conservation NGOs issue two open letters to oppose a review of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, which could undermine decades of work to restore and protect threatened species. You can read our open letters here: 28th January 2022 28th June 2021 What’s happened? Every 5 years the species listed in Schedules 5 and …

‘Northern stronghold’ for rare hazel dormice created in Lancashire This week, a unique partnership of 10 organisations are coming together in an attempt to bring hazel dormice back from the brink. 39 dormice are being reintroduced into an ancient woodland in Lancashire. This reintroduction follows the milestone reintroduction in 2021 that saw 30 hazel dormice …

The Aral Sea in Central Asia is synonymous with ecological and socio-economic collapse. At the centre of this region lies, what until the sea largely vanished, used to be an island: Vozrozhdenie (meaning ‘Resurrection’). This remote island has been home to critically endangered saiga antelope for at least 400 years. Until recently, the unique biodiversity …

The Nature Recovery Green Paper, which Defra published on 16 March 2022, includes sections on consolidation and rationalisation of species protection and the creation of a new tiered approach to species protection in England. As a champion and leader for conservation and research for some of England key mammal species, PTES has a significant interest …

Magnificent stag beetles Sadly, the incredible stag beetle is threatened across Europe. PTES has been working to save stag beetles for nearly 25 years. We’ve funded research, collected records through our Great Stag Hunt survey, and more recently, we have joined the European Stag Beetle Monitoring Network. What is the European Stag Beetle Monitoring Network? …

Spring is well underway and hedges across the countryside are rich with colours and sounds as blossoms emerge and wildlife awakens. This time of year provides a really great opportunity to start thinking about the diversity of flowering plant species across the hedgerows that we manage. Observing the hedges across a field, garden or park …