Breaking Waves: Ocean News

Madeline Horwath on spring picnics – cartoon

admin — Sat, 11 Apr 2026 10:00:45 +0000

The war over Omagh’s gold: the £21bn mine plan tearing a community apart

admin — Sat, 11 Apr 2026 05:00:41 +0000

On Monday, a public inquiry will reopen, nine years after the plan was proposed and a toxic local battle began

When Fidelma O’Kane retired more than a decade ago from her career as a social worker and lecturer, she thought she would be “travelling and having a glass of wine and eating chocolate and reading books” while based in the quiet, hilly corner of rural County Tyrone where she has lived almost all her life.

An environmental disaster in Moldova has Russia’s fingerprints all over it | Paula Erizanu

admin — Sat, 11 Apr 2026 04:00:37 +0000

The Ukraine war on our doorstep is a constant threat. Contaminated drinking water is a dangerous new twist

In the second week of March, the nature vlogger Ilie Cojocari went out to film the arrival of spring on the Nistru (Dniester) river, 70 metres away from his home in Naslavcea, a village bordering Ukraine on the northernmost point of Moldova. But as he approached the river he could smell the stench of oil rising up from the water and see dark spots floating on its surface. Something was wrong.

Anger as swifts’ nesting holes in Derbyshire rail viaduct ‘blocked up’

admin — Fri, 10 Apr 2026 14:26:46 +0000

Campaigners say birds could die trying to access ancestral nests that were sealed during rail refurbishment

Some swifts returning to Britain to breed will be unable to access their ancestral nesting holes after they were blocked in a £7.5m refurbishment of a Derbyshire railway viaduct, campaigners say.

Nature lovers had appealed to Network Rail to unblock three holes which were among at least nine swift nesting sites on the twin viaducts at Chapel Milton, on the edge of the Peak District.

‘Illegal’ forest service overhaul risks causing ‘chaos’ across US public lands, union claims

admin — Fri, 10 Apr 2026 10:00:16 +0000

The restructuring will close all regional offices, which manages 193m acres of land, roughly the size of Texas

‘An abomination’: the Lancashire town kicking up a stink over reopened landfill

admin — Fri, 10 Apr 2026 08:31:10 +0000

Residents of Fleetwood say continuous foul smell from Transwaste site is causing illness and making life hell

In the week that many families went to the coast for the fresh sea air or the tang of fish and chips, visitors to one Lancashire resort inhaled a rather more unpleasant aroma.

“Welcome to Fleetwood,” read the local newspaper headline. “The town that smells of bin juice.”

Week in wildlife: an ostrich on the lam, a tortoise crossing a road and surfing seals

admin — Fri, 10 Apr 2026 07:00:12 +0000

This week’s best wildlife photographs from around the world

Take down bird feeders this summer to cut spread of avian disease, says RSPB

admin — Fri, 10 Apr 2026 05:00:09 +0000

Charity advises replacing seed and nut feeders, where birds gather, with small amounts of mealworms, fat balls or suet

Garden birds should not be fed seeds and nuts over the summer months, the RSPB has said, in an attempt to reduce the spread of avian diseases.

Bird lovers are being urged to take down their bird feeders between May and October to help birds such as the greenfinch, whose numbers have plummeted after the spread of trichomonosis, a parasitic disease transmitted more easily when birds cluster around feeders in the warmer months.

Lava bursts forth as Hawaii’s Kilauea volcano erupts

admin — Fri, 10 Apr 2026 02:11:40 +0000

Hawaii Volcanoes national park closed due to eruption of one of world’s most active volcanoes, located on Big Island

Amber lava exploded over 200 meters into the air as Kilauea, one of the world’s most active volcanoes, located on Hawaii’s Big Island, erupted on Thursday.

US agency proposes rolling back rules for safe disposal of toxic coal ash

admin — Thu, 09 Apr 2026 20:28:28 +0000

Advocates warn changes could increase risks of pollutants contaminating water and exposure to toxic waste

The Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday proposed weakened rules governing the safe disposal of ash produced by burning coal. Those regulations were strengthened under the Biden administration as part of a wider crackdown on pollution from coal-fired power plants.