Breaking Waves: Ocean News

Climate experts and ministers say burying electricity cables could cost 10 times more than pylons Energy and climate experts have hit out at Conservative plans to hold a review into electricity pylons, saying the manifesto pledge could increase energy bills and make it harder to reach net zero. Industry sources and climate action groups have criticised the Tories over the party’s manifesto commitment to hold a “rapid review” of overhead pylons, which it announced amid mounting pressure from anti-pylon activists in rural areas. Continue reading...

Speculative applications for renewables schemes are slowing clean electricity transition, study finds Business live – latest updates Two-thirds of applications to build renewable energy projects in Great Britain have failed to get through the planning stage over the past five years, hampering efforts to shift towards clean electricity generation. A study of Britain’s “renewables pipeline” found that 63% of mooted projects were either abandoned, refused planning permission, or an application was withdrawn or ultimately expired between 2018 and 2023. The remainder of the applications were either approved or revised, according to the research by the consultancy Cornwall Insight. Continue reading...

Curiosity and a fascination with nature have brought volunteers together to survey sea life under the pier in Ryde on the Isle of Wight, to help experts gauge what’s thriving – and what isn’t Photographs by Peter Flude Read more in this series The blood-red tentacles of the beadlet sea anemone seem to wave underwater, beckoning to be touched. I reach out a finger. Caitlin Woombs, engagement officer for the Hampshire & Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust (HIWWT), bounds over. “You know how it feels as if they’re sticking to you?” In fact, that’s the sensation of the anemone firing dozens of microscopic harpoons into your skin, in the vain hope that it can reel you into its gaping mouth, she says, flashing a broad grin. Contemplating this miniature drama is a huddle of volunteers, crouched beneath Ryde Pier on the Isle of Wight. It’s an unexpected place to go searching for sea life, and yet it is abundant here. The pier is a veteran survey site in the Wildlife Trusts’ citizen science Shoresearch programme, a “long-term monitoring project that allows us to understand the wildlife on our shores, and track changes over time,” says Daniele Clifford, marine conservation officer at the organisation. The expedition in Ryde is one of 12 local intertidal surveys scheduled by the HIWWT for 2024, and one of hundreds more that are available to join countrywide each year, under the broader Wildlife Trusts network. Volunteers range in age and experience, and surveying is open to all. Volunteers with the Hampshire & Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust prepare to begin work Continue reading...

From bees to burrowing owls, many species are adapting to urban environments and, with a little extra help from us, more could follow suit In Sapzurro bay on the Colombia-Panama border, the blue land crab can be found scuttling around human infrastructure, burrowing in the nooks and crannies of the coastal settlement. The species, which can grow up to 15cm and ranges in colour from violet to bright cerulean blue, is considered critically endangered or vulnerable in this region, although it can be classed as invasive elsewhere. It traditionally lived in the region’s rich mangrove forests, many of which have now been urbanised – habitat loss that scientists have blamed for the crab’s decline. But when scientists studied the distribution of the species around Sapzurro bay, they were surprised to find it was still thriving in areas where vegetation had been eliminated: crawling in pastures, banana and coconut plantations, and scurrying below concrete structures. While burrows in urban areas were fewer and smaller, it had successfully built homes along sewage canals and among houses. Continue reading...