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5 March 1968 The steelworks pool was largely frozen, and walking in line ahead across the ice were three big yellow-billed whooper swans

YORKSHIRE and NOTTINGHAMSHIRE
Over a desert of rubbish-strewn waste ground on the outskirts of Sheffield skylarks were singing, and a brace of partridges whirred up from a patch of tall dead weeds. The steelworks pool was largely frozen, and walking in line ahead across the ice were three big yellow-billed whooper swans, while six more were keeping open a small patch of water in the centre of the pool. For the most part these were motionless, only giving brief glimpses of their bill-patterns as they lifted their heads from their sleeping posture. The whooper breeds occasionally in Scotland, although there have been no published records of its doing so even there since 1939, but it is only a winter visitor to the rest of the British Isles.

Related: Legendary birds of the wildness

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Helvellyn, Lake District The combination of deep, drifting snow and mountain wind creates absorbing patterns

A flare of sun, a rush of endorphins, and the cloud scatters like a flock of birds to reveal the Patterdale fells, snowbound and sublime. There was not a speck of snow in overcast Glenridding but as we climbed the snow cover had gradually spread, until this sudden sunburst at about the 700 metre contour marked the feeling we had crossed from the valleys below to the winter hills above, a world charged with adventurous promise.

Our aim is Helvellyn’s Striding Edge, but I find myself being absorbed by the sculptures resulting from the combination of deep, drifting snow and mountain wind. The sinuous patterns in a banked-up gully are mesmerising, interlocking and racing downhill like river currents; ripples radiate across a snowdrift like the surface of a windblown lake; miniature cornices shaped like cresting waves create the illusion of a rolling sea frozen in time. Water is flowing everywhere, but without motion.

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ACT's National Arboretum has replaced its diesel generator for 100% solar and battery storage – a shift that will pay for itself within 8 years.

NSW govt set to roll out solar across its buildings and infrastructure after selection of five “prequalified, carefully vetted” solar PPA suppliers.

NSW shire of Parkes to explore feasibility of building its own “virtual solar network,” based on existing PV investments and future solar and storage installs.

Beon Energy Solutions tapped to build BayWa's 112MW Karadoc Solar Farm in Victoria's north-west.

Satellite images suggest Tesla has begun installing a proposed 70MW rooftop PV array on its Nevada Gigafactory.

Cut off date for old commercial lighting rules; market waits for direction from Victorian Opposition ahead of state poll.

Europe's changing energy profile as wind and solar take hold; lithium prices down on fears of over-supply; AGL weighed down by emissions profile.

Study confirms U.S. could have a carbon-free grid in coming decades.

Central Victoria town achieves a breakthrough deal on network tariffs that could pave the way for a community solar farm and 100 per cent renewable energy within a few years.

Renew Estate proposes 300MW solar farm for Gladstone, Queensland, to help wean the regional centre off coal, and power industrial growth.

Since the beginning of the year, Nigeria has been gripped by an outbreak of the deadly Lassa fever.

The so-called “revolving door” between the political and corporate realms is more like a "golden escalator", such are the financial rewards. It begs the question of who is setting policy in Australia.

APA completes largest solar farm in West Australia, and first in that state to be co-located with a wind farm.

More than 180 individuals have moved between senior public service roles and the fossil fuel industry in Australia over the past decade - providing a golden escalator for former senior politicians. Adam Lucas, Senior Lecturer, Science and Technology Studies Program, University of Wollongong Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

Some spiders produce silk than can actually be stronger than steel and 50 times as light. Andrew Walker, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, The University of Queensland Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

Fiona Howie, Tom Greeves, Andrew Gilruth and Amanda Anderson respond to George Monbiot’s article on reclaiming our national parks

George Monbiot raises some legitimate concerns about the management of parts of our national parks (Here’s a novel idea: protecting wildlife in our national parks, 28 February) but to write off all 15 of them entirely is nonsense.

Monbiot says: “Much of the land in our national parks is systematically burned.” But they are more than just moorlands; they contain one-third of England’s public forest estate. Northumberland contains some of the cleanest rivers in England; the New Forest includes a special area of conservation, an EU designation, that encompasses almost 30,000 hectares; and the Pembrokeshire coast some of the most biodiverse coastal habitats.

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Cat Burton, Steve Emsley and Geoff Williams on using the car batteries to turn up the heat in their electric vehicles when needed

I had to laugh at John Richards’s worry about people freezing in stuck electric vehicles because their batteries would run down in “no time” while those in a petrol car could run their heater (Letters, 3 March). Running the heated seats and climate control for about seven hours costs about three miles of range for my Tesla and it’s probably something similar for a petrol or diesel car. The big difference is, the electric vehicle won’t be killing the occupants with carbon monoxide poisoning. Indeed, the advice has always been not to run the engine if stuck.

Teslas have a 12v battery for “domestic” uses and a 400v battery for motive power. The 400v kicks in to recharge the 12v when needed. Think of the 400v battery as the equivalent of running the engine to top up the battery.
Cat Burton
Barry, Vale of Glamorgan

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