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Olympic clean-up is complete, says Environment Agency

Work to clean up the Olympic site and create the largest urban park in Europe for more than 100 years has been completed, the Environment Agency said yesterday.

Minus 11 as UK braces for widespread snow

Britain is lying in wait for widespread snow this weekend after another bitterly cold day in which temperatures in some places struggled to get above freezing.

Minus 11 and snow on the way for UK

Temperatures plunged to minus 11C today as Britain braced itself for more bitterly cold conditions ahead of a spell of snow this weekend.

-11C and snow's on the way for UK

Temperatures plunged to minus 11C today as Britain braced itself for more bitterly cold conditions ahead of a spell of snow this weekend.

Bird numbers plummet around stricken Fukushima plant

Researchers working around Japan's disabled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant say bird populations there have begun to dwindle, in what may be a chilling harbinger of the impact of radioactive fallout on local life.

Weekend snow warning as UK shivers

The Met Office has raised fears for the elderly and ill by issuing a serious England-wide weather alert as the nation shivers in freezing conditions.

Shetland oil drilling contract agreed

Oil giant BP has announced a multimillion-pound contract with a specialist offshore engineering firm for the second phase of a massive project off the Shetland Islands.

Nature Studies by Michael McCarthy: Just because Nessie is a myth doesn't mean we can't dream

I can't say I've been influenced by a lot of Belgians in my life, but I make an exception for one: Bernard Heuvelmans, a zoologist from Brussels who wrote a book which reverberated through my imagination when I read it as a young man, and still does to this day.

Pythons are squeezing the life out of the Everglades, scientists warn

If you go down to the Florida Everglades today, you're in for a big surprise: in the past 12 years, 90 per cent of the wild mammals which once roamed freely through the National Park have gone.

Martin Hickman: Short-term drive for profit is behind this travesty

Teeming with rare mammals, the Tripa swamp is an orangutan stronghold and vital carbon store in north-western Sumatra, an island larger than the UK whose natural wealth for decades has been relentlessly stripped by Indonesia's corrupt rulers. Nearly half its forest was burnt or chainsawed between 1985 and 2007, proportionally more than neighbouring Borneo, which is shared between Indonesia and the more orderly Malaysia and Brunei.

Rebel hero who has 'betrayed' the last of Aceh's orang-utans

When the former rebel leader Irwandi Yusuf became governor of Indonesia's Aceh province, he proclaimed a "green vision" for the war-torn region. Aceh's lush forests ? still relatively pristine despite decades of civil conflict ? would not be sacrificed for short-term profit, he promised. True to his word, he even chased down illegal loggers in his own jeep.

British zoos put on alert over rising threat of rhino rustlers

British zoos have been warned their rhinos may be attacked by poachers because of the soaring value of their horns in the Asian medicine market.

Pesticides blamed for bee decline

Compelling new evidence from the US government's top bee expert that modern pesticides may be a major cause of collapsing bee populations led to calls yesterday for the chemicals to be banned.

Thrills and trills in your backyard

One morning two or three winters ago I glanced out of the kitchen window into the garden and saw, on the feeder that hangs from the apple tree, two bright green birds. I was momentarily taken aback.

Nature Studies by Michael McCarthy: We think swans are beautiful. So why not ducks?

Why do we laugh at ducks? Why do we find them funny? Did Walt Disney choose Donald Duck as a cartoon character because ducks are inherently comic, or do ducks seem all the more comical because of the creation of Donald Duck? In English, we have developed specific, mocking words to describe their actions. Ducks do not walk or hop, they waddle. They do not call or cry to each other, they quack. These are loaded, non-neutral verbs, waddling and quacking. They predispose to derision.

Farmers on red alert over outbreaks of new livestock disease

A new livestock disease which causes birth deformities in sheep, cattle and goats has been identified in Britain for the first time.

Animals can't keep up with climate change

Animal and insect species in Europe are losing the fight to keep up with rapid changes in climate in a new phenomenon dubbed "climatic debt", according to an international study.

Clashes expected as badger cull pilot areas revealed

Conflict in the countryside was foreshadowed yesterday when the Government announced the two areas which have been selected to pilot the controversial cull of badgers, as part of the effort to combat TB in cattle.

Clashes expected as badger cull pilot areas revealed trial goes ahead

Nature Studies by Michael McCarthy: More badgers and fewer hedgehogs. Coincidence? I don't think so

In the wild, animal numbers naturally fluctuate. The marsh fritillary butterfly, for example, can virtually vanish from some of its colonies in certain years, only to be present two or three years later in numbers that are overwhelming (this is caused by cycles of parasite infestation, and something similar happens with red grouse).

'Vital' for big firms to help Earth

Sir David Attenborough has called on big businesses to help protect the natural world from the rapidly expanding human population.

Hedgehog hibernation habits studied

The public is being urged to take part in a survey of hedgehogs to see if climate change is having an impact on their hibernation and survival.

Thousands of horses abandoned by owners last year

Thousands of horses are being abandoned or tied up and left to starve, many by desperate owners unable to afford the costs of keeping them. A national crisis has seen Britain's biggest horse charities under unprecedented pressure from the sheer number of animals needing their help.

Slugs and snails munch their way back as top pests

Slugs and snails have regained their crown as the most pesky pests to munch a destructive path through Britain's gardens. Having been toppled from their customary first place in 2010 by the viburnum beetle, they slithered back to the top of the list in 2011 as the pest gardeners most love to loathe.

Get with the beasts: a big game hunter's guide to modern Britain

1. Cougar

When PC Chris Swallow, a Ministry of Defence dog handler, filmed a sleek, black, metre-long cat in Argyll, Scotland, in 2009, he was convinced it was a black panther.