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There was stunning cosmic imagery to feast on over the past year - here's our pick of the offerings.

What blooms underground and smells like vanilla? The answer is an underground orchid, and I never expected to see one, let alone have the privilege of working on them. Mark Clements, Botanist, CSIRO Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

The US Department of Justice (DOJ) asked an appeals court to overturn rulings earlier this year that concluded California’s linkage with Quebec does not violate the Constitution, according to a brief filed by the agency.

European carbon prices rose to a new all-time high on Monday after the EU and UK reached a post-Brexit trade deal late last week, and as colder weather and limited allowance supply provided support.

On Boxing Day more than half the country’s daily electricity came from wind turbines

More than half the UK’s daily electricity came from wind turbines for the first time on Boxing Day, in a performance achieved on gusts of up to 100mph (160 km/h) from Storm Bella.

Data charting the proportion of power generated from different sources, including fossil fuel and nuclear plants, show that on 26 December wind provided 50.7% of UK electricity.

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A surge in outdoor activity in the UK has exposed how vital it is to balance human needs with those of the natural world

It has been a year of extremes for nature. Under the first lockdown in spring, wildlife was suddenly left to its own devices. There were wild goats in the streets of Llandudno, peacocks in Bangor, sheep cavorting on playground roundabouts in Raglan in Monmouthshire. With verges left unmown by councils, roadsides erupted with wildflowers. There was respite for the estimated 100,000 hedgehogs, 50,000 deer, 50,000 badgers and 100,000 foxes that end up as roadkill every year. With no boats, jetskis, people or dogs, a friend living on the cliffs above Seaford Head Nature Reserve, in East Sussex – a popular walking destination and normally home to just five occasional curlews – showed me from her balcony on Zoom a flock of 36 curlews, hundreds of oystercatchers, ducks, merlins and peregrines. Everyone seemed to notice the birdsong. Without planes competing overhead, the dawn chorus of songbirds at Knepp, our 1,400-hectares (3,500-acres) rewilding project in West Sussex, was cacophonous and, after dusk, nightingales and woodlarks took centre stage. In May, in the crowns of our oak trees, white storks hatched their chicks for the first time in Britain since 1416.

During lockdown, with life on pause and in need of solace, we tuned in to nature as never before. The Wildlife Trusts told me its website recorded a 2,000% increase in live webcam views. Unsurprisingly, when restrictions on travel were relaxed in mid-May, people flocked to the countryside like birds let out of a cage. At Knepp, we received 30,000 visitors in three months, a 10-fold increase compared with the same period in 2019. The atmosphere was of unadulterated relief as families spilled into the sunshine to soak up the pleasures of walking and relaxing in nature.

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A dozen ocean species new to science could already be threatened by climate change, scientists find.

Crisp packets, cup lids and wet wipes among the more mundane objects commonly encountered

A full-size disco ball, a plastic Christmas tree and a double mattress were among the more unusual objects found by volunteers cleaning up the UK’s beaches this autumn.

The most common polluting items retrieved in the Marine Conservation Society’s annual clean of coastal areas were pieces of plastic or polystyrene, plastic takeaway cup lids and wet wipes.

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In their latest scan of emerging global biological conservation issues, experts assess the 15 most urgent risks society needs to address

If it did nothing else, the emergence of Covid-19 a year ago underlined for all of us the importance of anticipating and preparing for – and, as appropriate, steering the course of – things that might happen in the future.

That is, in a nutshell, the goal of the 2021 horizon scan of emerging global biological conservation issues recently published in the journal Trends in Ecology & Evolution by the Cambridge University conservation biologist William Sutherland and a team of 24 other conservation practitioners and researchers from around the world.

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National Trust review has warned that the climate emergency is clearly leading to more erratic conditions

It was a year of extremes as far as the weather was concerned: pounding rain, violent summer storms, some mild winter months and periods of searing sunshine.

An annual audit of how this year’s weather has affected flora and fauna in the UK has concluded that it was, to say the least, a challenging 12 months.

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Hurricanes, floods and wildfires wreaked havoc, causing deaths and a huge financial impact.

Not all frogs 'ribbit' — some sound like a motorbike changing gears or a tennis ball being hit. This summer, keep your eyes and ears out for these Aussie frogs. Jodi Rowley, Curator, Amphibian & Reptile Conservation Biology, Australian Museum Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

Borrowing has risen unsustainably during the pandemic among businesses, the government and consumers

As we look forward to 2021, there is much to be hopeful for. Vaccines pending, much of normal life will return and the economy can recover even more quickly than predicted by the Bank of England and the Treasury’s independent forecaster, the Office for Budget Responsibility.

While bedding in a Brexit deal will prove to be difficult in the weeks and months after 1 January, there is the prospect of businesses beginning to see through the fog of uncertainty that has clouded the past four years.

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Catherine Nakalembe won this year's Africa Food Prize for pioneering work using satellite images.

Lockdowns around the world have led to record falls in CO2 emissions. But will this lead to long lasting change?

Necropsy reveals 80% of the thousands of songbirds that died suddenly showed typical signs of emaciation

• Birds ‘falling out of the sky’ in mass die-off in south-western US
• Read more in our series Biodiversity: what happened next?

The mass die-off of thousands of songbirds in south-western US was caused by long-term starvation, made worse by unseasonably cold weather probably linked to the climate crisis, scientists have said.

Flycatchers, swallows and warblers were among the migratory birds “falling out of the sky” in September, with carcasses found in New Mexico, Colorado, Texas, Arizona and Nebraska. A USGS National Wildlife Health Center necropsy has found 80% of specimens showed typical signs of starvation.

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Researchers surprised by reappearance of species without aid of reintroduction scheme

Native oysters have unexpectedly returned to the shores of Belfast Lough after more than 100 years, researchers have discovered – though scientists are still unsure how they got there.

Ostrea edulis, the European flat oyster, is listed as threatened and/or declining by the Ospar conservation scheme and is the focus of numerous biodiversity projects around Europe. But now it has impressed scientists by establishing itself in Belfast Lough without the aid of a reintroduction programme.

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Memories of Brazil’s dictatorship as plan threatens biodiverse home of three indigenous communities

Brazilian activists have voiced alarm over their government’s plans to bulldoze a 94-mile highway through a biodiverse corner of the Amazon along the border with Peru that is home to at least three indigenous communities.

The planned road is an extension of the BR-364, a 2,700-mile highway that links São Paulo with the Amazon state of Acre, and would connect the town of Cruzeiro do Sul with the Peruvian border town of Pucallpa.

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Lewis Hamilton isn't just the world's most successful F1 driver, he's also a key backer of a new off-road electric vehicle racing series called Extreme E.

Record-breaking astronaut Scott Kelly talks about living in space and his desire to go back.