Nature

Trial aims to reveal the secrets to beautiful hanging baskets

A new trial aims to reveal the best way to achieve beautiful hanging baskets without using too much water.

Lyme Disease: What it is, how you catch it and everything else you need to know

The fine weather of spring and summer brings with it ticks – and with them, fears about Lyme disease. Charlotte Peters explains what you need to know.

World’s first protected area for basking sharks to be set up in Scotland

Scotland wants to create the world’s first protected area for basking sharks

Our sand dunes are under threat, but new funding could restore them to health

Sand dunes are an much-loved part of our coastline, but they have been in decline for decades. Now a new project aims to protect the dunes and the rare animals who live in them — with over £4m of funding.

The world tree planting record has been broken by Ethiopia as they lead the world in this clever way to tackle climate change

The project aims to counter the effects of deforestation, with the goal of planting a total of four billion indigenous trees by October.

The confusingly enormous hummingbird hawk-moth that looks set to become a regular fixture in British gardens

Is it a bird, is it a plane? No, it’s a hummingbird hawk-moth. Simon Lester takes a closer look at this most unusual moth, which is probing flowers in your garden now.

In Focus: Ruskin, Turner and the ‘prophetic warning of impending environmental catastrophe’

Simon Poë is blown away by ‘Ruskin, Turner & the Storm Cloud’ at the Abbott Hall Art Gallery in Kendal, an exhibition about climate change and mental health, plus the pleasures and pains that come with seeing clearly.

A walk through the Forest of Bowland: 'I feel the immensity of the history of this place and am deeply moved by it'

A solitary dawn walk through the Forest of Bowland is a magical experience, says Fiona Reynolds.

Peregrine falcons: The 240mph predators living peacefully alongside us in our church spires

How a chance visit to a Jersey prompted Gerald Durrell to turn his menagerie into a beautiful zoo

The island that most of us associate with Gerald Durrell is Corfu, where he spent his formative years. But it's a different island where his legacy is most keenly felt today: Jersey.

Why conservation must start at home: 10 British species we need to save to protect our food chain

Simon Lester sends out an SOS for 10 species that we must save to help repair an increasingly fragile food chain.

The things we need to do to save the planet, by Alan Titchmarsh, Minette Batters, David Bellamy and more

From cutting the population to growing insect-friendly plants, campaigners and commentators tell Rosie Paterson about the environmental issues that worry them most and what they’d do to save the planet.

Jason Goodwin: Dogs, lichen inspectors and the ticks that look like Hitler

Our columnist Jason Goodwin feels the thrill of meeting a true subject matter expert —  and comes across away with his head fizzing with pleasure.

What it's like to live for five days on an uninhabited Scottish island

Marooned on the uninhabited Scottish island of Scarba with only his terrier for company, Patrick Galbraith discovers the realities of a solitary way of life.

Country Life Today: The answer to global warming could be as beautiful as it is simple - 2,500,000,000,000 trees

Britain’s birds of prey: The Country Life guide to all of the UK’s raptors

Raptors’ supersonic vision, effortless aerial acrobatics and ruthless hunting instinct make them the undisputed masters of the skies, but can you tell a merlin from a hobby or a goshawk from a sparrowhawk? Simon Lester explains the basics of these fascinating creatures and then gives a rundown of all 15 of Britain's raptor species.

Jonathan Self: ‘Going plastic-free for a week – how hard can it be? Jolly hard is the answer’

Jonathan Self finds that eschewing plastic for a week is testing, but achievable, even if his quest for locally grown strawberries packed in wooden punnets proves fruitless.

A message of hope: ‘Humanity may be on course to destroy the planet, but we know how to stop it, we can afford to stop it and we have the technology to stop it’

We know we’ve caused global warming, but we can stop making it worse, says John Gummer, chair of the Climate Change Committee. We simply need strong leadership to achieve it.

A life without plastic: Why it’s going to take more than a few incremental changes to save our planet