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We look for nesting sites of the little tern; meet a former FIFO miner turned chicken farmer; open the gate to social farming; and pen up sheep with 86-year-old stock agent Linton Bradley.

Gitanjali Rao's device uses carbon nanotubes to detect the presence of lead in water.

Genex Power Limited is pleased to announce that, following successful transformer energisation of the Kidston Solar Stage 1 Project, Genex has now generated its first revenue from KS1.

5 December 1967 CM Gadd was apparently the first person to realise how migrating birds are attracted to municipal sewage farms

CHESHIRE AND LANCASHIRE: I was sad to hear recently of the death of a Cheshire naturalist whose name is probably quite unknown to the great number of ornithologists who have profited from his energy and fieldcraft. I refer to the late CM Gadd who was apparently the first man to realise what a rich variety of migrating waders and other birds are attracted to municipal sewage-farms. It is from observations at these somewhat unpleasant places that much of our knowledge of overland migration has been derived. Gadd first visited the well-known Altrincham sewage-farm in 1916, found that it was attractive to birds and informed TA Coward. That famous ornithologist lived only four miles away from the farm but had never visited it, although subsequently, until his death in 1933, he went there repeatedly, as have innumerable bird-watchers after him.

Related: Food and shelter at the sewage farm: Country diary 100 years ago

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’Tis the season for online shopping – which means a month of shipping. Here's how to reduce your delivery footprint. David M. Herold, Sustainable Logistics Researcher, Griffith University Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

Chairman of the Countryside Commission who tried to bridge the gap between modern farming and conservation

Derek Barber, Lord Barber of Tewkesbury, who has died aged 99, spent much of his long career in public life trying to bridge the gap between modern farming and the conservation of wildlife and landscape. He was chairman of the Countryside Commission from 1981 to 1991 and few people can claim to have left such an imprint on British rural life.

His leadership was marked by numerous initiatives – Groundwork (now a national movement to encourage communities to improve their local environments), the National Forest (a new forested area in the Midlands), the reinvigoration of rights of way and the independent national parks – that have become established parts of the environmental scene in England and Wales.

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In this age of contested political issues and unchecked information, we examine the psychological tricks and the quirks of neuroscience which often lead us to believe untruths and ignore the facts.

More than 300 pesticides are permitted in conventional agriculture, and some may combine in a harmful cocktail effect. So for your sake and the planet’s, go organic

Leeks, potatoes and onions are not vegetables you’d usually associate with a soup that could harm you. However, recent UK government data on pesticides and mainstream crops shows that they could create a very concerning cocktail effect. The number of different active pesticide ingredients used on these crops has increased between six and 18 times since the 1960s. Toxicologists refer to a cocktail effect because while safety certificates are issued to individual pesticides, their cumulative effect is not tested.

Toxicologists refer to a cocktail effect because pesticides' cumulative effect is not tested

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Wangan and Jagalingou native title claimants seek to prevent Carmichael Indigenous land deal being signed before court ruling over who has authority

Traditional owners opposed to the Adani Carmichael coalmine have filed an injunction with the federal court to prevent the native title tribunal from signing off on an Indigenous land use agreement before the outcome of a court challenge.

The injunction was filed following a meeting of the W&J traditional owners council in Brisbane on Saturday, where the 120 attendees voted against the Ilua for the fourth time since it was proposed in 2012.

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Terns, spoonbills and visiting hoopoes will be given protection

Little terns and black-throated divers are among the seabirds that have been given greater protection after a stretch of coastline in Cornwall was awarded special status to safeguard its wildlife. The newly designated marine special protected area (SPA), which stretches for 24 miles between Falmouth Bay and St Austell Bay, is home to more than 150,000 rare seabirds.

Great northern divers and Eurasian spoonbills are also visitors along with sandwich terns and common terns. All are amber-listed by conservation groups because they have suffered significant losses of numbers and range in the recent past.

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Only hope for world’s most endangered marine mammal now rests with bid to stop illegal fishing

A last-ditch attempt to save the world’s most endangered marine mammal, the vaquita, by taking them into human care has been abandoned. The chances that this rare species of porpoise will become extinct are now extremely high, researchers have warned.

They had hoped to catch a few of the planet’s last 30 vaquitas – which are only found in one small area of the Gulf of California – and protect them in a sanctuary where they could breed safely. But last month, the $4m (£3m) rescue plan by an international team of more than 60 scientists and divers ran into trouble after only a few days, when the first vaquita they caught had to be released when it began to display dangerous signs of stress.

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Whistleblowers accuse the agency in charge of the largest pest eradication effort in Australia’s history of mismanagement.

On Twitter, Nigel Gibbens says the pens are a "necessary defence" against bird flu.

Dolbenmaen, Gwynedd This sett was, I think, first occupied in the early 1950s, its entrances concealed among dense rhododendron thickets

This sett I’ve known for 50 years. I think it was first occupied in the early 1950s. Huge now, 200 metres long and 60 wide, with innumerable entrances concealed among dense rhododendron thickets, I called it Badgeropolis, and spent much time watching from the hillside above as the badgers made their moonlit excursions. These were an enchantment: the silvery bounce of their beautiful coats; the rough-and-tumble of cubs’ play; their curiosity and habituation to my still, nightly presence; the astonishing inflected vocabulary of squeal, purr, yelp and mew; their tenderness at mating; the affection between boar and sow, parents and cubs.

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14-year-old Ebony Wallin wrote about the discovery that some caterpillars can eat the thin polyethylene used to make many plastic shopping bags.

With sky-high energy prices, local people are fighting back.

In the middle of the 18th century, a large flightless bird became extinct on an Indian Ocean island.

We look for nesting sites of the little tern; meet a former FIFO miner turned chicken farmer; open the gate to social farming; and pen up sheep with 86-year-old stock agent Linton Bradley.

Researchers develop a new speedy approach to estimate the true size of very large earthquakes.

Exclusive: Pure electric cars cost less over four years than petrol or diesel cars in the UK, US and Japan, researchers say, but China is set to lead the market

Electric cars are already cheaper to own and run than petrol or diesel cars in the UK, US and Japan, new research shows.

The lower cost is a key factor driving the rapid rise in electric car sales now underway, say the researchers. At the moment the cost is partly because of government support, but electric cars are expected to become the cheapest option without subsidies in a few years.

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