Nature

10 superb pictures from Nature Photographer of the Year 2019

A cheeky duck and a majestic arch of the aurora borealis are among the magnificent photographs honoured by the 2019 Nature Photographer of the Year competition.

Is it possible to live off vegetables and fruit from your garden all year round?

John Wright considers how we could all do more to make the most of home-grown produce.

The 15 best pictures from the National Trust's photo competition to find a cover for its 2020 member handbook

A beautiful image of a nature reserve on the Isle of Wight has won the honour of being on the cover of the handbook sent out to the National Trust's 5.6 million members.

Is this the end of the line for turtle doves?

The iconic bird has seen a dramatic decline since 1970 and only 1,000 breeding pairs are thought to remain in the UK.

A mixed farm in Scotland where Mother Nature does her own thing

A new monthly column by Jamie Blackett tells us about the vicissitudes of life on a mixed farm in Scotland.

The best winning pictures from the 2019 Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition — and the stories behind them

A soaring eagle, a shocked marmot and an underwater garden like you've never seen before are among the finest pictures from the Natural History Museum's 2019 Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition.

Jason Goodwin: 'In Yorkshire he spat on them, down south he peed, either way, they aren’t good eating'

Animal Magic: ‘For a while because the canal was full of buffalo – they had to close it for 24 hours to get them out!’

Were the celebrations about the end of fracking premature? Cuadrilla vows to apply for new permission

Campaigners had celebrated the removal of equipment from Cuadrilla's Lancashire fracking site, but the firm has confirmed it is applying for an extension.

Jason Goodwin: 'Coleridge never stopped talking... Wordsworth was more private, more reflective, and finally, more successful'

Jason Goodwin remarks on how tracking one's pet past the boundaries of one's home is comparable to Coleridge's 'This Lime-tree Bower My Prison'.

Rise in late-born baby hedgehogs means many may struggle to survive winter in a further blow to the troubled species

Warmer weather means more hedgehogs are born later in the year but they may not make it through winter, adding to many woes already faced by the species, whose numbers may have halved in Britain in the past twenty years.

'The end of fracking in the UK': Campaigners claim victory as Lancashire drilling site begins shutdown

Anti-fracking activists have hailed the news that energy company Cuadrilla is removing equipment from its Lancashire site as a sign that shale-gas extraction is coming to an end in the UK

Eight of the most amazing nature photographs of the year, from the 2019 Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition

The exhibition for the Natural History Museum's 2019 Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition is about to open. We take a look at some of the finest pictures shortlisted for this year's awards.

Country Life Today: Sir David Attenborough's heartfelt call to arms

Scotland's natural crisis demands new laws, says David Attenborough, while we look at hornless cattle, terrible weather and the protests which shocked the world 50 years ago.

Country Life Today: How plants feel 'pain' - and warn each other when they're about to get eaten

Six utterly glorious images of Britain's natural wonders, to inspire you and help out the John Muir Trust in 2020

The John Muir Trust's Wild Nature diary and calendar is filled with stunning images of our natural wonders.

'Extinct' moth returns to Britain after forty years

The Clifden Nonpareil, whose resident population disappeared in the 1960s, had only been occasionally spotted in the UK when European moths made their way across the Channel — but now the insect is once again breeding on British shores.

More than 100,000 pink-footed geese may soon land in Scotland

The migratory pink-footed geese winter in Britain and reach our shores in autumn. Numbers have been increasing lately and this year could top the record figure of more than 85,000 geese that arrived at Scotland's Montrose Basin in 2015.

Jason Goodwin: 'The flock widened and contracted, filling the whole sky with motion: expansive, pure theatre'

Our spectator columnist comments on the end of summer, as murmurations of wheeling and diving birds herald the beginning of a new season.