Welcome to Ground Cover, our roundup of news, science reports and features. Here’s what to expect in this week’s edition:
- National: Labour's trail hunting ban, upcoming elections, species-rich grasslands.
- Local: Swallowtail reintroduction in Yorkshire, rainforest on the Isle of Man, eagles in Cumbria.
- Reports: Funding for beavers, butterfly trends, Scotland's environment targets.
- Science: A biodiversity forecast, pre-Linnaean herbaria, bird-watching brain.
- Driftwood: Rewilding with AI, butterflies in Armenia, an eco-village in Colombia.
Want to read the whole thing?
Get 3 months of Inkcap+ for £1 a month OR your first year for £25.
Offer lasts till the end of the Easter weekend.
National news
Hunting | Labour has opened a consultation on how to ban trail hunting, which it says endangers animals and acts as a ‘smokescreen’ for illegal fox-hunting. It is a divisive subject: the government announcement emphasised that Labour was ‘committed to ensuring that responsible rural pursuits, where there is no risk to our precious wildlife, can continue.’ But the backlash from those representing hunting interests was swift. Horse & Hound magazine called on trail hunting supporters to ‘stand up and be counted’ while Countryside Alliance accused the government of launching ‘attack after attack on the countryside’. The Telegraph reported that 12,000 dogs will be put at risk by the ban. On the other side of the fence, the Hunt Saboteurs Association celebrated the news and provided guidance to supporters on responding to the consultation. The Guardian and the BBC covered the news.
Elections | The national conversation is turning towards the elections on 7 May, and nature is a part of it. This week, Welsh Labour launched its manifesto, making various promises on the environment – although Steffan Messenger, the BBC’s Wales environment correspondent, reported that they are ‘largely building on work in progress’, reaffirming existing targets like the 30x30 protection goals. One interesting addition is the promise of an urban rewilding taskforce ‘to help nature thrive in towns and cities’. Journalist Will Hayward wrote that the state of the environment in Wales is ‘beyond unacceptable’ and that the manifesto was like ‘bringing a stick of celery to a knife fight’. He also reported from the launch of the Greens’ Senedd election campaign: there were a lot of bikes and houseplants, but some evasion around the question of sheep. Separately, the Scottish Wildlife Trust explores how the public can influence nature policy ahead of the Scottish Parliament election.
