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The ocean is dying. Titouan Bernicot is regrowing it, one coral at a timeThe world (and Rolex and Prada) are betting on a 20-something-year-old's coral gardens.
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What is everyone talking about this week: Is this to be the worst apple harvest in history?Record heat and next to no rainfall all summer means Britain's orchards are set to suffer devastating losses.
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The pretty and practical art form documenting Britain’s great estatesLandowners have long documented their demesnes in finely drawn estate maps.
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In classical times this bird was sacred to Aphrodite and for millennia served as an erotic symbolThe braying cacophony of a greylag goose flock in full chorus has made the breed unlikeable, despite their amorous connections, writes Mark Cocker.
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'A shared experience unlike any other in Britain since the Blitz': What have we learned since summer 1976?This week's leader asks what we've learnt since Britain's last major heatwave.
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Would you still charm me if I was a worm?Every summer, a quiet Cheshire village becomes the scene of one of the world’s most unusual sporting contests: the World Worm Charming Championships. Tom Howells reports.
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Silent assassin or scapegoat: Is the sparrowhawk really to blame for Britain’s vanishing songbirds?Mark Cocker turns his attention to the surprisingly fast sparrowhawk in this instalment of his column, The Unloved Bird's Club.
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British wool is booming, but where are all the sheep?The wooly good news is that demand for British wool is rising sharply. The wooly bad news is that global sheep numbers are declining.
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The ultimate shapeshifters: There's more to clouds than meets the eyeConstable spent hours re-creating them on canvas and Shelley was so obsessed that he wrote a poem pretending to be one.
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Why centuries of superstitions cast this bird as a villain and an omen of ill fortuneThe swaggering corvid with the chain-smoker’s rasp carries around centuries’ worth of superstitions. Mark Cocker asks if the magpie’s reputation has been unfairly tarred.
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Country Life's heatwave winners and losers. Spoiler alert: it's good news for tomatoesAs we struggle through another heatwave, we list our winners and losers of the sweltering season.
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No shirt, no shoes, no respect: Well dressed and well-behaved tourists only, pleaseAs holiday's in the UK are set to rise, we need to make sure that visitors, both domestic and foreign, are dressing the part.
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'The human equivalent would be able to leap across London's Park Lane': The wonderful world of insectsBe they bioluminescent, possessed of inbuilt violins or builders of Gaudí-esque cathedrals, the insects beneath our feet are worthy of closer inspection, says Charles Harris.
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Pigeons are too successful for their own good — that's why we hate them so muchSpare a thought for these much maligned birds with their soft, crooning seven-note song, writes Mark Cocker.
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Bugs bugs, glorious bugs: 'The little things that run the world'This week's leader celebrates the many merits of the humble insect, from the bumblebee to the butterfly.
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In Norfolk, life changes with an ever-shifting landscapeThe Cley Estuary is no longer the humming port of medieval times and 21st-century life progresses at a gentler pace. Patrick Galbraith spent a day observing wildlife and talking to the locals about how their home subtly continues to change.
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Riding a wave: is the tide turning for seaside heritage?Britain's coastal areas aren't totally washed up just yet, finds Emma Hughes, who discovers how lidos, piers and promenades are riding a new wave of regeneration.
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When every drop counts: Eight stories to help understand the water that surrounds usWe are ‘sleepwalking into an ecological disaster’ due to a modern disconnection from the water cycle, warns one campaigner. Here, eight people whose lives involve working around water talk to Kate Green and Mary Skipwith about how we need to rediscover a fundamental relationship with our most precious resource.
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Why our water is going down the drainHaphazard development, lack of investment and reliance on Victorian structures are creating a looming water crisis in parts of Britain. It will take effort, organisation and a lot of money, but adequate supplies for all are within reach.
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Rights flow to more threatened rivers facing further pollutionFollowing the Ouse, more rivers across the UK are receiving charters to protect their integrity and ecosystems
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Why have the songbirds that protect the Tower of London been branded 'trickster Gods' and 'butcher crows'?Considering that it was Edgar Allan Poe’s avian muse, the raven has a bloodthirsty reputation that isn’t entirely deserved.
