Scotland |

UK to become first country in Europe to ban live animal exports

December 3, 2020December 6, 2020ecolightenment

Plans to ban the export of live animals for slaughter and fattening are to be unveiled by the UK’s environment secretary, George Eustice, on Thursday. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) said the plans were part of a renewed push to strengthen Britain’s position as a world leader on animal welfare. An […]

Beaver families get ‘legal right to remain’ in the UK

August 10, 2020August 17, 2020ecolightenment

A victory of science and conservation ensures that several families of beavers will be allowed to live in southwest England. It’s the first time an extinct native mammal has been given the official right to remain in England. The European beaver was once common across much of Europe and western Asia. However, they were hunted […]

Scotland to ban mass culling of mountain hares

June 18, 2020June 25, 2020ecolightenment

Gamekeepers and grouse moor managers will be banned from mass culling mountain hares after Scottish ministers bowed to intense pressure from conservationists. The Scottish parliament voted on Wednesday night to give mountain hares special protection under the Wildlife and Countryside Act, which will make it an offence to intentionally or recklessly kill or injure the […]

White-tailed eagles return to southern Britain after 240 years

August 22, 2019August 23, 2019ecolightenment

White-tailed eagles are gracing the skies of southern Britain for the first time in 240 years after six eaglets were released on the Isle of Wight. The huge birds, which are fitted with satellite tags, are expected to disperse along the south coast of England in a scheme backed by the environment secretary, Theresa Villiers, […]

Specieswatch: plan to return lynx to UK receives fresh boost

May 21, 2019May 23, 2019ecolightenment

A plan to bring back the Eurasian lynx – Lynx lynx – to Britain has moved a step nearer with research that pinpoints the Kintyre peninsula in Scotland as the place this large carnivore has the best chance of thriving. From there, the research suggests, the lynx could spread to the rest of the Highlands […]

Arctic terns swirl around a grey stretch of rock

August 30, 2018October 12, 2020ecolightenment

Haar sharpens people’s perceptions, for all that it blurs our view of land and sea. On this stroll to the shore, for instance, the lighthouse on the isle of Bressay facing our home has disappeared. There is no glimpse either of the pair of swallows I sometimes come across on my route, darting over the […]