A former horticultural nursery in Regent’s Park has been transformed into a diverse mix of habitats, with a wide range of species already spotted ahead of its opening to the public on April 27
When the Queen Elizabeth II garden opens in Regent’s Park this month, the first people to visit the Royal Parks’ £5m biodiversity project will quickly discover they are not, in fact, the first visitors.
That honour belongs to a hairy-footed flower bee, a breeding pair of geese, some dragonfly nymphs, a flock of grey wagtails, a prickle of hedgehogs, an armada of newts, a flutter of spring butterflies and a “very cheeky” fox.
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Breaking Waves: Ocean News
04/18/2026 - 05:00
04/18/2026 - 02:00
The US attack on Iran has made the need for renewable energy inarguable. Environmentalists are now being seen for the pragmatists that they are
Donald Trump has done more to accelerate the energy transition than anyone else alive. Fossil fuel companies bankrolled his presidential campaign to stop the transition in its tracks. But when you back a volatile narcissist, unable to concentrate for more than a few minutes at a time, you shouldn’t expect to control the outcome.
It’s not that the fossils are suffering yet. As prices have soared since Trump and Netanyahu attacked Iran, oil executives have been selling shares at gobsmacking prices: the CEO of Chevron, for example, has cashed $104m so far this year. Vladimir Putin has also received a massive boost to his Ukraine invasion budget. As promised, Trump has gutted clean energy rules and programmes, green alternatives and environmental science. A fortnight ago, he stated, with the usual quantum of evidence (zero): “The environmentalists, I mean, they are terrorists … I call them environmental terrorists.”
George Monbiot is a Guardian columnist
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Stranded and dying, the German whale is a parable of our troubled relationship with these sea giants
04/18/2026 - 01:00
Even as we empathise with these intelligent animals, our relentless push for resources kills them in their thousands, just as whalers once hunted them to the brink of extinction
For weeks now, a humpback whale has been trying to die. Entangled in ropes, it had wandered into the shallow Baltic Sea. Unable to feed, it is now subject to extreme dehydration, since whales satisfy their thirst through the fish they eat.
In such a parlous situation, the whale’s last resort was to strand itself on Poel Island, in the Bay of Wismar. Sadly, it has been a slow death. Beached whales die because they are crushed by their own weight. The German humpback’s agony may have been prolonged because it lay in shallow water and was thus only partly submerged.
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04/18/2026 - 00:00
Need something brilliant to read this weekend? Here are six of our favourite pieces from the last seven days
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04/17/2026 - 11:40
8-0 ruling gives companies new day in federal court after firms including Chevron ordered to pay millions for cleanup
The supreme court handed a win on Friday to oil and gas companies fighting lawsuits over coastal land loss and environmental degradation in Louisiana.
The 8-0 procedural decision gives the companies a new day in federal court after a state jury ordered Chevron to pay upward of $740m to clean up damage to the state’s coastline, one of multiple similar lawsuits.
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04/17/2026 - 10:00
Footage supplied by the office of the Greens legislative council member Cate Faehrmann shows scientists digging to reach broad-shelled turtles stuck under boggy mud in the Gingham watercourse. Researchers from the University of New England have been desperately trying to help more than 300 turtles they say have been left to die in the Gwydir wetlands after the NSW state water agency stopped environmental flows after a landowner complained about overflow on their property. UNE conservation biologist Prof Debbie Bower called the scene a 'disaster'. 'These deaths are incomprehensible, given there is environmental water sitting in the dam. This could save the turtles, but WaterNSW is just not allowing its release,' she says
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04/17/2026 - 09:56
Measure passes 50-49 to overturn a 20-year ban on mining near renowned Boundary Waters canoe area wilderness
The US Senate narrowly voted on Thursday to overturn a ban on mining near Minnesota’s Boundary Waters canoe area wilderness, an enormous complex of interconnected lakes, rivers and forests that is among the most visited wild areas in the US.
The resolution passed 50-49 to repeal a 20-year moratorium imposed by Joe Biden’s administration in 2023 on mining across the 225,000 acres (91,000 hectares) in the Superior national forest.
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04/17/2026 - 07:35
Autotrader says average EV cost is £785 cheaper, in an important milestone in the move away from fossil fuels
The price of new battery electric cars has fallen below petrol cars in the UK for the first time, according to the car sales website Autotrader, in a significant milestone in Britain’s transition away from fossil fuels.
The average price of a new electric car listed on the website was £42,620, compared with £43,405 for a new petrol model – making the former £785 cheaper based on advertised prices after discounts.
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04/17/2026 - 07:00
At 1.5C of global warming, up to 90% of coral reefs could be lost. The next few months could be a defining moment
Where I come from – Hawai’i – the reef isn’t just something you look at. It’s part of us. It feeds our families, protects our shores, and lives at the center of our culture. In our stories, coral is one of our oldest ancestors. It’s a reminder that everything in the ocean, and all of us, are connected.
Right now, that integral connection is under threat.
Jason Momoa is an actor, film-maker, and UNEP Advocate for Life Below Water, dedicated to protecting our oceans and advancing global awareness around coral reef conservation
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04/17/2026 - 06:49
Nine-day search for two-year-old Neukgu gripped nation and sparked safety concerns for animal and public
The internet in South Korea erupted in celebration as a two-year-old wolf that escaped from a zoo was captured safely after a nine-day search that had gripped the nation and made the animal a national celebrity.
The male wolf, named Neukgu, burrowed out of his enclosure at the O-World zoo in Daejeon on 8 April. Animal rights activists questioned whether the wolf could survive outside the zoo and also worried he might be killed during capture, something that happened to a puma that escaped from the same zoo in 2018.
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