Only a small sliver of riverside land is accessible to the public. Rights of way shouldn’t depend on the goodwill of landowners
In a country often said to be racked by division, criticising the condition of rivers is one of England’s few unifying pastimes. Sewage dumping, which occurred for nearly 4m hours in English rivers and coastal waters last year, has become a potent source of anger, inspiring campaigners to push for cleaner water. Despite the concern that people show for England’s rivers, however, it is remarkably difficult to stroll along their banks, let alone take a dip.
The Guardian’s recent reporting on the River Dart in Devon has shown that large stretches of its bank are privately owned, and many of these are difficult to access. The researcher Lewis Winks, who used Land Registry data to map the Dart’s ownership, found the 47-mile long river has no fewer than 108 separate owners. The Duchy of Cornwall owns 28 miles of riverbank; two aristocratic estates own a further 13; 11.6 miles are owned via offshore companies.
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Breaking Waves: Ocean News
07/30/2025 - 12:48
07/30/2025 - 11:21
Young birds were closely monitored and protected from predators after six summers without fledging success
A pair of Montagu’s harriers have raised four chicks in an English wheat field, the first success for Britain’s rarest breeding bird since 2019.
The fledglings took their maiden flights this week after being closely monitored by the RSPB and the local farmer, with a protective wire-mesh fence installed around the nest to repel predators such as foxes.
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07/30/2025 - 10:00
Indian conglomerate’s claim about exporting coal and its role for developing nations is ‘meaningless sustainability waffle’ and amounts to greenwashing, one says
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An Adani claim that its Australian export program, whereby coal is sent through the Great Barrier Reef’s shipping channels, is advancing the United Nations’ sustainable development goals has been denounced by leading scientists.
Adani’s Queensland export site claims its operations “ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all”, which is one of the UN’s 17 sustainable development goals.
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07/30/2025 - 09:12
Concerns poorer countries could be priced out of negotiations in Belém as room rates soar amid shortage
The UN climate bureau has held an urgent meeting about concerns that sky-high rates for accommodation at this year’s Cop30 summit in Brazil could price poorer countries out of the negotiations.
Brazil is preparing to host Cop30 this November in the rainforest city of Belém, where representatives of nearly every government in the world will gather to negotiate their joint efforts to curb the climate crisis.
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07/30/2025 - 08:22
Experts say thawing of permafrost due to climate breakdown is causing increase in rock collapses across Alps
Hundreds of hikers and tourists were evacuated and dozens of trails closed after a series of rockfalls on the slopes of Cima Falkner in the Brenta Dolomites in the north of Italy, as experts warned of a sharp rise in landslides in the area linked to thawing permafrost.
In recent days, visitors reported hearing loud booms followed by rockfalls and thick clouds of dust rising from Monte Pelmo in the Val di Zoldo after rocky pinnacles broke away and crashed down into the valley below in the municipality of Selva di Cadore in Italy’s Belluno province.
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07/30/2025 - 06:41
Test is one of only about 200 chalk streams in the world and councillors says biodiversity in and around it has declined
Local politicians have recognised the right of a famous chalk stream, the Test in Hampshire, to flow freely and unpolluted.
Councillors on Test Valley borough council voted unanimously to acknowledge “the intrinsic rights” of the rivers within its boundaries, including the Test, which is renowned for its trout and fly fishing.
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07/30/2025 - 05:00
Disgust at the CEO’s rightwing activism is casting a pall but conservatives are no more likely to buy EVs
US liberals have become so disgusted with Tesla since Elon Musk’s rightward turn that they are now not only far less likely to purchase the car brand but also less willing to buy any type of electric car, new research has found.
The popularity of Tesla among liberal-minded Americans has plummeted since Musk, Tesla’s chief executive and the world’s richest person, allied himself with Donald Trump and helped propel the president to election victory last year.
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07/30/2025 - 05:00
Incidents across northern Europe on 26 and 27 July have left scientists trying to understand why so many of the deep-diving whales have appeared
A series of strandings of one of the world’s deepest dwelling and most rarely seen types of whale in the last few days has left experts baffled over why they might have appeared in such numbers.
Beaked whales are used to deep ocean waters and are so rarely seen that some species have only ever been identified through dead specimens. But on 26 and 27 July there were reports from western Ireland, Orkney in Scotland and the Netherlands of these whales being stranded, raising concerns that human actions could be implicated in the animals’ deaths.
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07/30/2025 - 04:41
Not a single licence granted since first beavers let loose in March, raising questions over application process
When the first pair of beavers to be legally released in England crawled sleepily from their crates into the ponds of Purbeck Heath in Dorset, it seemed like a watershed moment for wildlife in the UK.
Wildlife charities rejoiced as ministers finally agreed for the nature-boosting rodents to be released, subject to licence, into the wild. Nature-friendly farmers kept an eager eye out for the application forms, hoping they could host the fascinating creatures on their land.
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07/30/2025 - 02:03
Research links poor housing, access to cooling and other economic factors to higher mortality rates during heatwaves
Ethnic minorities and people living in the most deprived areas of England are at increased risk of dying due to excess heat, according to research.
A study, published in BMJ Public Health, is the first of its kind to assess the role of socio-environmental factors in the risk of heat-related deaths.
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