This month’s environment news round-up kicks off with details of two big developments in the UK’s renewables sector. This month, the Viking wind farm in Shetland began transmitting power to mainland Britain and the UK’s energy regulator Ofgem approved construction of a vital subsea link between further Scottish wind turbines and the north of England. In legal news, the new government in Westminster decided not to fight a challenge to the controversial Rosebank oil and gas field brought by environmental campaigners. The Scottish Government, meanwhile, launched a consultation on a partial or total trawling ban in a number of Marine Protected Areas. There was further good news for our coasts as a recent study shows how successful the UK’s plastic bag levy has been in reducing beach waste.
Renewable Energy Infrastructure Boosts
There were two significant boosts to renewable energy production in the UK this month. The UK energy regulator Ofgem has approved construction of a new subsea cable linking Peterhead in Aberdeenshire with Yorkshire. The cable, dubbed an electricity ‘superhighway’ by the body, will transport power from offshore wind turbines in northeast Scotland to the north of England. Up to two million homes could benefit from the renewable power the cable transports. Construction will likely begin later this year with SSE and the National Grid working together on the project and aiming to bring it online in 2029. The project is the first of 26 projects Ofgem is fast tracking with investment to help improve the UK’s energy security and provide cheaper energy.
Towards the end of the month, Shetland’s Viking wind farm starting transmitting power to mainland Scotland for the first time. The SSE project, consisting of 103 turbines, is set to produce enough energy for nearly 500,000 homes, making it the UK’s most productive site. Power from the site reaches the mainland via a subsea cable link connecting to Caithness. While Energy Secretary Ed Miliband welcomed Viking’s contribution to reducing the UK’s reliance on fossil fuels, the project is not without controversy. Some locals feel they won’t benefit from cheaper energy tariffs despite hosting the windfarm. Campaigners on the mainland are also critical of supporting infrastructure development, in the shape of pylons and cables, planned for the next few years across the UK. SSE, however, say the projects are vital to ensure connectivity between new renewable generation sites and the nation, as well as helping to meet our net zero commitments.
UK Government Will Not Fight North Sea Oil Challenge
Towards the end of the month, the UK Government announced it will not fight a legal challenge brought by environmental campaigners against the controversial Rosebank and Jackdaw oil fields licences. The joint claimants, Greenpeace and Uplift, say that in granting licences for the fields, the full impact of generated emissions was not accounted for. They also point out that further oil and gas exploration is completely at odds with the UK’s net zero commitments. While the licences were granted under the previous administration, and Labour’s manifesto pledged not to give the go-ahead for any new wells, the new government said they did not plan to scrap Rosebank and Jackdaw. If the court challenge is successful, developers at both sites will have to resubmit environmental impact assessments.
Scottish Government Opens Trawling Ban Consultation
Still in Scotland, the Scottish Government this month opened a new consultation on restrictions to trawling activity in 20 Marine Protected Areas around the country’s coast. Despite being protected by environmental designations, many marine sites are currently still subjected to trawling, one of our most destructive fishing practices. Not only does the activity remove huge tracts of habitat for a range of marine organisms, but it is also indiscriminate in what it catches, thus impacting marine biodiversity. Additionally, it releases carbon stores from the seabed, contributing to greenhouse gas emissions. The consultation seeks to measure support for partial or total bans in 15 areas and a total ban in a further 5 zones. Research from areas with contrasting levels of ban show that species recovery is significantly greater in areas where a total ban is implemented as opposed to a ban centring solely on certain features such as reefs or kelp beds.
Positive Effect of Carrier Bag Charge Revealed
Data from the Marine Conservation Society’s volunteer beach litter pick surveys show that the incidence of plastic bags on our coasts has dropped dramatically since the UK introduced a levy nine years ago. The charity revealed this month that on average, the number of plastic bags recorded per 100 metres was down 80% on counts from before the charge was implemented. Before supermarkets began charging for bags, billions of single-use plastic carriers were handed out every year in the UK. The results highlight just how successful positive action can be in reducing harmful non-biodegradable waste. Spokesperson Lizzie Price said that they were also beginning to see a drop in the number of plastic cutlery items and cotton buds following a ban introduced in England in October 2023.
Badger Cull Latest
There was mixed news for England’s badgers this month. Following on from June’s news that Natural England had gone against the advice of its own scientists in approving a new round of cull licences, this month Labour revealed that they were changing the government’s approach to tackling bovine tuberculosis (bTB). Defra announced a comprehensive new strategy that aims to end badger culling by 2029, instead focusing on extending existing badger vaccination programmes and working to develop a vaccine for cattle. They also plan to back plans up with research into current badger population levels, badger tuberculosis rates and the effectiveness of vaccines where administered. There was some cautious optimism at the focus on cattle to cattle transmission. Critics, including the Badger Trust, want all current licences to be revoked and the cull to end immediately, however. They say that 94% of infections are from cow to cow and badgers are being unfairly scapegoated.
Meanwhile, a first of its kind project in Cornwall shows that cooperation between scientists, conservationists and farmers can positively affect the latter’s support for badger vaccination over culling. A four-year study in the county that was partly funded by farmers vaccinated badgers across 12 farms. Researchers from the Zoological Society of London, along with scientists from Imperial College London, then monitored the population and carried out blood tests. They found that nearly three quarters of local badgers were likely inoculated and that subsequent incidences of tuberculosis in tested badgers fell from 16% of the population to 0% across the farms involved. Following the results, the farmers were much more positive about vaccinating programmes and were keen to carry on the programme beyond the study period.
Britain’s Rarest Plant Seen for First Time Since 2009
The ghost orchid, Britain’s rarest plant, has been seen for the first time since 2009 by amateur botanist Richard Bate. The enigmatic species only appears above ground when conditions are exactly right, making it something of a holy grail to orchid enthusiasts and botanists. It was even declared extinct in 2009, before coincidentally being located just a few weeks later. Unlike most plants, the ghost orchid doesn’t need sunlight to produce chlorophyll, and for the majority of its life, the plant lives underground, getting all its nutrients from supporting fungi networks. Only when conditions are perfect does it produce a small, pale bloom, barely any height above the leaf litter of its preferred deep woodland habitat. Even then, it only flowers for a few hours or days at most. Bate has been looking for the almost mythical orchid for 30 years. Botanists will now work to guard the location from potential poachers and protect it from accidental damage.
Research Round-up
A new study looking at multi-habitat landscapes has found that they are crucial for preventing biodiversity loss and provide greater resilience than single habitat sites. The research, led by scientists at the University of Bristol, found that previous studies focusing solely on specific habitats, such as woodlands or farmland, failed to record the complexity of species interactions and food webs across multiple habitats, giving an incomplete picture. By looking at multiple habitats within a landscape, though, the ecologists were able to see how that worked in conjunction to create much more resilient ecosystems. They also found that mobile species using more than one habitat type were vital to reinforcing connectivity within a landscape. The authors hope that their work can be used in conservation to manage sites in a more complete way rather than focusing on single habitat actions such as tree-planting or wetland enhancement.
Research published in Current Biology and led by scientists at the Ineos Oxford Institute for antimicrobial research has found that urban birds could be reservoirs for bacteria with antimicrobial resistance (AMR). The scientists analysed bacteria samples taken from the guts of 30 different species of wild bird from 8 countries to look for the presence of AMR associated genes. They found that birds living in closer proximity to humans, such as pigeons and ducks, carried a greater range of bacterial strains as well as up to three times more AMR genes than those living in isolated environments. The results have worrying implications for human health. Diseases caused by antibiotic resistant bacteria and microbes are having an increasing impact, with the World Health Organisation describing it as one of the top human health threats globally. Over a million people around the world die every year as a result of AMR.
Finally, scientists in China have discovered that exposure to prolonged artificial light could be making plant leaves too tough for many insects to eat. The researchers, based at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, wanted to find out why urban trees seem to show less insect damage than those in more natural environments. They tested over 5,000 leaves from two common urban trees in Beijing, the Japanese pagoda and green ash tree. Those that were exposed to the most light had the smallest, toughest leaves and consequently the least insect damage. This suggests that in lighter areas, the trees focused more on defending their leaves from attack by growing thicker than on using energy to grow larger leaves. The scientists say they need to do more work to understand why this is happening but highlight the dire consequences it can have for complex food webs if many insects are no longer able to access food in urban centres.