The Guardian

Naturalist describes accolade as ‘Boaty McBoatface in book form’ after Fingers in the Sparkle Jar beats Wind in the Willows and The Peregrine

When academics asked readers to vote for Britain’s favourite piece of nature writing, they probably didn’t expect a celebrity memoir about Asperger’s to trounce otters, badgers and peregrines.

But Chris Packham has seen off famous poets and naturalists such as John Clare, Kathleen Jamie and Gilbert White, as well as much-loved children’s classics The Wind in the Willows and Tarka the Otter, to top the online poll organised by the Arts and Humanities Research Council.

Study warns that use of anti-malarial nets may reduce people’s protection and affect fish stocks, and calls for urgent research into potential impacts

Anti-malarial mosquito nets are being used to catch fish around the world, according to the first global survey, risking harm to people and fish stocks.

More research is urgently needed to assess these impacts, say the scientists, but they also caution that the draconian bans on mosquito net fishing seen in some countries may cause more harm than good, particularly where people rely on the fish caught to survive.

Charcoal is an integral part of everyday life in Uganda, where most people rely on some form of wood fuel to cook or boil water. For many, the sale of trees also provides a valuable income. Yet this levelling of the landscape, which causes loss of habitat for wildlife and leads to climate change, is unsustainable

All photographs by Jennifer Huxta

Lawmakers overwhelmingly vote for the bill to abolish trade by 2021, which will shut down a massive ivory market and throw a ‘lifeline’ to elephants

Hong Kong has voted to ban ivory sales in a landmark move to end the infamous trade in the city.

Lawmakers overwhelmingly voted for Wednesday’s bill, which will abolish the trade by 2021, following China’s complete ban on ivory sales that went into effect at the end of last year.

Three-person team reported to have been attacked by government forces while patrolling in the Keo Seima wildlife conservation sanctuary

Soldiers in an area of north-eastern Cambodia where illicit logging and smuggling are rife are reported to have killed a forest protection ranger, a military police officer and a conservation worker in apparent retaliation for their seizure of equipment from illegal loggers, officials have said.

Keo Sopheak, a senior environmental official in Mondulkiri province, said the three-person team was attacked late Tuesday afternoon after patrolling in the Keo Seima wildlife conservation sanctuary. He said the dead civilian was a Cambodian employee of the New York-based Wildlife Conservation Society.

Climate experiment shows trees release water but stop absorbing carbon in extreme heat

Australian researchers growing trees in climate change conditions have found the leaves “sweat” to survive extreme heatwaves.

The year-long experiment showed that trees continue to release water through their leaves as an evaporative cooling system during periods of extreme heat, despite the carbon-fixing process of photosynthesis grinding to a halt.

Footage taken at the Sealife Melbourne aquarium shows a green sea turtle that was rescued from a beach on the Mornington peninsula swimming laps alongside predators  to prepare for his release into the wild. Terry the turtle has a phalanx of divers to act as bodyguards for his first foray into the tank

The stripy fields have been planted across England as part of a trial to boost the natural predators of pests that attack cereal crops

Long strips of bright wildflowers are being planted through crop fields to boost the natural predators of pests and potentially cut pesticide spraying.

The strips were planted on 15 large arable farms in central and eastern England last autumn and will be monitored for five years, as part of a trial run by the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology (CEH).

The turtle washed up on a beach in August and will be released into the wild next month

A green sea turtle rescued from a beach has been swimming laps alongside predators at Sealife Melbourne aquarium to prepare for his release into the wild, with a phalanx of divers to act as bodyguards.

The immature turtle was discovered washed up on a beach on the Mornington Peninsula in August, severely underweight and battling pneumonia.

By the tidal waters of a lowland river it’s a thrill to spot this Arctic breeding shorebird – even if, for this bird, sleep is on the schedule

The birds were so well camouflaged I almost didn’t see them. A dozen waders, perched on a rocky outcrop alongside the River Parrett, Somerset, at high tide, the water lapping at their feet. Most were turnstones, whose faded tortoiseshell plumage blended in surprisingly well with the rocks. A couple of dunlins, too, the ubiquitous small wader also in drab winter garb.

And one other bird: plump, dark and fast asleep, head tucked beneath its feathers. Only an unusual plumage feature, the patch of yellow at the base of its bill, gave away its identity as a purple sandpiper. Though at this time of year slate-grey sandpiper might be more apt.

The seaman Jon Castle, who has died of cancer aged 67, led many of Greenpeace’s most dramatic marine campaigns, including the occupation of the Brent Spar oil platform and the opposition to nuclear testing.

After 25 years with Greenpeace he turned his skills to wider humanitarian causes, including rescuing refugees in the Mediterranean and sailing to the Chagos Islands in protest at the British refusal to allow people to return to their homeland following their eviction to allow the US to build a military base. He always acted, he said, not just out of a love of nature but for right against wrong.

Exclusive: ALP’s internal advocacy group wants sweeping reforms to protect natural heritage to be adopted as policy at next conference

Bill Shorten is facing rising internal pressure to make the environment central to Labor’s election pitch after 250 ALP branches passed a motion calling for strong new national laws and an independent agency akin to a “Reserve Bank for environmental management”.

Branches from every state and territory have backed a campaign by the Labor environment action network (Lean), an internal advocacy group, for sweeping reforms to protect natural heritage to be adopted as policy at this year’s ALP conference.

UK and eight other states will need to take drastic measures on illegal air pollution to avoid court referrals next week, says EU

The EU has given Britain and eight other states until next Friday to show how they will comply with EU air pollution laws or face the European Court of Justice.

The ultimatum came as London reached its legal air pollution limit for 2018 in just the year’s first month, and could lead to heavy fines being imposed on the UK even after Brexit.

Further indication that oil firms are planning for growth of battery-powered vehicle market

BP will add rapid charging points for electric cars at its UK petrol stations within the next two months, in the latest sign of an oil giant adapting to the rapid growth of battery-powered cars.

The British oil firm’s venture arm has invested $5m (£3.5m) in the US firm Freewire Technologies, which will provide motorbike-sized charging units at forecourts to top up cars in half an hour.

UK environment secretary urged to set out proposals by Dutch counterpart

The Dutch government has called on Michael Gove to provide a clear vision for the European fishing industry for when the UK leaves the EU’s common fisheries policy, amid growing insecurity in communities on both sides of the Channel.

Carola Schouten, the Netherlands’ fisheries minister, said her country’s fleet, one of the largest in the EU, needed certainty about the future, but that she had yet to see any template from the British environment secretary for how a new arrangement would work.

The IPCC is taking guidance on how to communicate its crucial findings beyond speciality scientific and policy circles

The remit of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is one of the more complicated jigsaw puzzles in the world.

Since 1988, it has overseen thousands of scientists pulling together tens of thousands of academic papers on atmospheric physics, meteorology, geography, marine science, economics, land-use and much more. A multi-layered process of expert assessment takes place every six or seven years where a set of carefully worded statements is approved by representatives of 120 of the world’s governments, specifying what we know about the defining challenge of the 21st century: climate change.

Researchers have made remarkable finds at sites such as Grand Staircase-Escalante, which the administration has shrunk

The paleontologist Rob Gay wasn’t expecting to find anything significant that day. He and a few of his students were scouting in the southeast Utah badlands in summer 2016 when they came across a hillside littered with hundreds of bones. Scattered haphazardly and protruding from the earth, they were the remains of of prehistoric reptiles that lived 220m years ago, at the same time as the earliest dinosaurs.

Australian states with bans in place see rise in consumers and retailers resorting to thicker bags to escape the rule

Shoppers in states that have banned single-use shopping bags are reportedly buying reusable plastic bags then throwing them away.

The Australian Capital Territory requested an investigation into the use of thicker plastic bags last month, after reports that retailers and consumers had simply switched their plastic bag consumption to thicker bags to escape the ban.

Schools will receive an alert every time air pollution is high enough to pose an acute health risk, under new plans announced by Sadiq Khan

Schools in London will receive an alert every time air pollution in the capital is set to pose an acute risk to health as part of a renewed push to highlight the scale of the capital’s toxic pollution crisis.

Air pollution causes 40,000-50,000 early deaths a year in the UK – more than 9,000 in London – and the young are particularly vulnerable.

On this small, densely populated island, clashes between elephants and humans are rapidly increasing. Rangers and villagers are working to find ways to avoid the conflict and the devastating, at times deadly, impacts on both sides