Plastic straws will be banned in England from April 2020 (UK community)
https://www.independent.co.uk/environmen...24116.html
https://www.newscientist.com/article/220...pril-2020/
EXCERPT: The billions of plastic straws consumed in England each year will be banned from April 2020 as part of government efforts to protect marine life. Drinks stirrers and cotton buds will also be banned. [...] Many cafes, bars and restaurants have already switched to alternatives made from paper, but the move should finally end the estimated annual use of 4.7 billion plastic straws, 316 million plastic stirrers and 1.8 billion plastic-stemmed cotton buds. A consultation launched last October found overwhelming public support in the UK for a ban on the distribution and sale of the products. There will be exemptions... (MORE)
White stork pair could become first to breed in wild in UK for centuries (UK community)
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/...-centuries
EXCERPT: White storks nesting on top of an ancient oak tree could become the first wild pair to successfully breed in Britain for hundreds of years. The enormous birds are brooding three eggs on the rewilded Knepp estate, in Sussex, as part of a project to reintroduce the species to south-east England. “It’s absolutely thrilling,” said Isabella Tree, the author and estate’s owner with her husband Charlie Burrell. “She is sitting on three eggs and we feel like parents – after torrential rain we rush out to see if their nest is still there.”
[...] Birds with clipped wings from sanctuaries in Europe were introduced into large, fox-proof, open-topped pens three years ago. Conservationists hoped these would attract passing wild storks but this has not happened. ... Within weeks of being released into the pens at Knepp, one bird had defied its clipped wings to take flight and escape, and was subsequently spotted in Norfolk, Hampshire and Dorset. One of the fears with the project was that British-reared birds would not be capable of flying to continental Europe and mixing with wild populations there, nor undertake the migration to spend the winter in sub-Saharan Africa.
[...] Tree said: “Even with clipped wings this one bird went rogue almost immediately, spent time on the Isle of Wight and picked up a potential mate which was eaten by a fox. It flew off to Brittany but it’s now back in the Knepp pen which is really exciting because it shows that migration is possible – that the birds can go off to Europe and back to Britain.” (MORE - details)
https://www.independent.co.uk/environmen...24116.html
https://www.newscientist.com/article/220...pril-2020/
EXCERPT: The billions of plastic straws consumed in England each year will be banned from April 2020 as part of government efforts to protect marine life. Drinks stirrers and cotton buds will also be banned. [...] Many cafes, bars and restaurants have already switched to alternatives made from paper, but the move should finally end the estimated annual use of 4.7 billion plastic straws, 316 million plastic stirrers and 1.8 billion plastic-stemmed cotton buds. A consultation launched last October found overwhelming public support in the UK for a ban on the distribution and sale of the products. There will be exemptions... (MORE)
White stork pair could become first to breed in wild in UK for centuries (UK community)
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/...-centuries
EXCERPT: White storks nesting on top of an ancient oak tree could become the first wild pair to successfully breed in Britain for hundreds of years. The enormous birds are brooding three eggs on the rewilded Knepp estate, in Sussex, as part of a project to reintroduce the species to south-east England. “It’s absolutely thrilling,” said Isabella Tree, the author and estate’s owner with her husband Charlie Burrell. “She is sitting on three eggs and we feel like parents – after torrential rain we rush out to see if their nest is still there.”
[...] Birds with clipped wings from sanctuaries in Europe were introduced into large, fox-proof, open-topped pens three years ago. Conservationists hoped these would attract passing wild storks but this has not happened. ... Within weeks of being released into the pens at Knepp, one bird had defied its clipped wings to take flight and escape, and was subsequently spotted in Norfolk, Hampshire and Dorset. One of the fears with the project was that British-reared birds would not be capable of flying to continental Europe and mixing with wild populations there, nor undertake the migration to spend the winter in sub-Saharan Africa.
[...] Tree said: “Even with clipped wings this one bird went rogue almost immediately, spent time on the Isle of Wight and picked up a potential mate which was eaten by a fox. It flew off to Brittany but it’s now back in the Knepp pen which is really exciting because it shows that migration is possible – that the birds can go off to Europe and back to Britain.” (MORE - details)