Atlas News

A field team from North Wales Wildlife Trust and Yorkshire Wildlife Trust reported finding many native oysters during monitoring at Spurn Point, with young oyster spat forming small reefs on scallop shells. Samples were taken for analysis of abundance, size and mortality. The partners have not published a count or survival estimate, so this observation does not quantify recovery against Wilder Humber’s 500,000-oyster target. The monitoring visit date was not stated.

Surrey County Council reports approximately 885,000 trees planted between 2021 and 2026, including 116,359 in 2025/26. These are planting totals, not a count of surviving trees or established woodland. Councillors in Elmbridge have raised concerns about aftercare and trees dying within a year.

Work is under way to turn 136 hectares of former farmland in Cambridgeshire into wetland, with channels, pools and reedbeds forming the Speechly’s Farm phase of the Great Fen. The 5 October report confirms restoration has begun, rather than that the habitat is complete. The separately completed 25-hectare New Decoy phase is an earlier milestone.

An independent evaluation of England’s £25 million Species Survival Fund records habitat work across 4,800 hectares through 20 projects between 2024 and early 2026. The total comprises 654 hectares of new habitat, 686 hectares restored and 3,460 hectares brought under active management. Projects also planted more than 127,500 trees and completed 3,596 habitat and species surveys. The National Lottery Heritage Fund published the findings on 5 October, following the end of funded delivery in February. These figures measure habitat work undertaken; longer-term ecological recovery remains subject to monitoring.

National Trust monitoring at Long Nanny recorded 126 little-tern pairs and at least 82 fledged chicks, alongside 730 Arctic-tern pairs and 1,346 eggs. The result is a measured 2026 breeding outcome, not a forecast.

Monitoring at HS2’s 127-hectare Western Slopes habitat recorded the first Hertfordshire sighting of hedgehog clover since 1878, alongside water voles, badgers and 21 butterfly species. The result is a measured habitat outcome; the landscape remains under long-term establishment and monitoring.