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Sandy, Bedfordshire The family of swans has separated, the juveniles driven off by parents ready to breed again

On a snow-flecked night over the holidays, I slipped down to the river and paused on the bridge. Floating a little upstream were two brilliant white coracles: sleeping swans, each with its beak folded away in the well between its wings. Anchorless and rudderless, did they lay their heads on feather beds under the weir, in the dreamy expectation that they would wake at dawn in the mill pool? Some overnight sleeper.

Only two swans. The last time I was here, there had been more – a whole family. It is the harshest, most necessary part of a territorial bird’s life that there should come a time when they drive away the young they so diligently nurtured. These birds had given theirs a Christmas present of solitude and self-reliance, and themselves the space to breed again.

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TransGrid has announced Mr Jeremy (Jerry) Maycock will join its Board as Chair from 22 February 2018.

IEEFA’s latest report finds that China continued to set itself up to dominate clean energy sectors during 2017.

The US was hit by a 'bomb cyclone' last week, bringing icy cold and driving snow. These storms develop very rapidly, forming outside the tropics, typically on continental east coasts in winter. Acacia Pepler, Research Scientist, Australian Bureau of Meteorology Andrew Dowdy, Senior Research Scientist, Australian Bureau of Meteorology Eun-Pa Lim, Senior research scientist, Australian Bureau of Meteorology Pandora Hope, Senior research scientist, Australian Bureau of Meteorology Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

Conservationists want to stop the birds – dubbed the world’s smartest parrot – from wandering onto roads and begging humans for food

Bird experts in New Zealand have designed a special gym for the country’s playful alpine parrot to keep them away from some of the nation’s most dangerous roads.

For the last couple of years contractors working on the road to Milford Sound in the South Island have captured footage of keas moving their road cones and equipment into the middle of the road when the workers knocked off overnight.

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Newly discovered fossils in Germany shed light on the emergence of butterflies and moths.

Theresa May will launch a 25-year plan to improve the environment but green groups say it has no legal force.

PM to declare war on scourge of plastic waste as she unveils much-heralded 25-year environmental plan

Theresa May is to announce a war on plastic waste, with proposed policies including plastics-free aisles in supermarkets and a tax on takeaway containers.

The prime minister will set out her ambition to eliminate all avoidable plastic waste within 25 years in a major speech on Thursday in which she will promise the UK will lead internationally on environmental issues. But campaign groups said the aspirations would need to be backed up by legislation.

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The Bitcoin mania of the last year might be easing, but businesses are finding new ways to use the technology behind the crypto-currency.

After a month of operation, the Tesla battery at Hornsdale Power Reserve in SA has outperforming expectations - and the model is set to be emulated in Victoria Dylan McConnell, Researcher at the Australian German Climate and Energy College, University of Melbourne Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

Astronomers have shed more light on a mysterious source of recurring radio pulses from space.

Ryan Zinke confirmed Florida would be exempt from massive offshore plan – which other states claim is simply a favor for Republican governor Rick Scott

Governors of coastal states have urged the Trump administration to scrap its plan to usher oil and gas drilling into almost all US waters, in an unusual bipartisan backlash against the surprise proposal itself – and the controversial twist that suddenly saw Florida, alone, excused from going along with it.

Related: Trump administration won't allow oil drilling off Florida coast

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State oil company starts second phase of drilling in one of the world’s most biodiverse hotspots

Ecuador’s state oil company has begun drilling the first of 97 planned wells inside a new field of the Yasuní national park, one of the world’s biodiversity hotspots.

The opening of the Tambococha-2 well has triggered fierce criticism from conservationists, who say President Lenín Moreno is backtracking on a promise to protect the Amazon and pay greater heed to the opinion of indigenous groups.

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Lobby group aims to curb ‘misinformation from urban activists’ to show ‘potential of Australian minerals sector’

The Minerals Council of Australia will continue hawking the benefits of coal-fired technologies, despite resources giant BHP threatening to pull out of the organisation over previous campaigns.

The lobby group says it is hoping to counteract “misinformation from urban activists”.

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Governor Rick Scott successfully fights off President Trump's plans, with more opposition expected.

A telescope inside a jumbo jet yields new insights on how stars are born from collapsing gas and dust.

With three hurricanes, wildfires, flooding and tornadoes, 2017 was a turbulent year across the US, costing a record $306bn in damage. Veteran storm photographer, Jason Weingart, captured the incredible displays in what was one of his most challenging years yet

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Wenlock Edge, Shropshire As twitchy birds forage along the hedges, an almost path through the fallen trees leads to an ominous discovery

This is a searching time. Blackbirds examine the ivy berries like jewel thieves. Thrushes poke through the mown grass of the Gaskell recreation ground with all the attention of the forensics team brought in to investigate the Spar robbery last month. The birds are twitchy, fossicking close to the hedge lines in case of attacks by sparrowhawks. Rooks are watchful and jackdaws group-speak up and down from the trees where blue tits, long-tailed tits and great tits work the branches as if picking tiny locks. A nuthatch chisels into a hazelnut to crack its secret.

After the snow, after the gales, after Storm Whatshername emerged from a murmuration of thrashing wings to press her lips to the window and blow through the glass like a kazoo, the woods are in disarray. A few big trees have bought it, but mostly it’s the damsons around the old squat lines, blackthorn along lanes and hazel in derelict coppice that cracked and twisted in the winds.

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SolarReserve’s 150MW solar thermal power plant has been granted development approval by the South Australian Government, paving the way for construction to begin this year.

IEEFA report says China will dominate international investment in renewable technology over the next several decades

China is moving towards becoming a global leader in renewable technology as the US pulls away, a new report has said.

China is the world’s biggest emitter of greenhouse gases and still invests in coal but in recent years it has become the largest investor in domestic renewable energy. The country is now on track to lead international investment in the sector, according to the report by the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA).

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