From night walks with children to switching off streetlights and rewilding areas, naturalists are working to save Europe’s dwindling populations
An hour or so after sunset, green twinkles of possibility gleam beneath the hedgerows of Westbury-sub-Mendip in Somerset. Under an orange August moon, the last female glow-worms of the season are making one final push at finding a mate.
For almost 20 years, Peter Bright and other volunteers have combed the village’s shrubberies and grasslands, searching for the bioluminescent beetles as part of the UK glow-worm survey. Most years, they have counted between 100 and 150, rising to 248 in 2017.
Ben Cooke, a National Trust ranger, places a glow-worm trap near Winspit Quarry in Dorset. Photograph: P Flude/Guardian
Safety of apparently fearless Mimmo at risk as the acrobatic bottlenose attracts admirers and selfie tours
Activists in Venice are campaigning to save a dolphin spotted in the lagoon over fears growing tourist interest could put its life at risk.
Known as Mimmo, the bottlenose dolphin made its latest appearance in St Mark’s basin, the body of water in front of the square of the same name, on Wednesday.
Close encounters reported almost daily as bears intrude into residential areas and attack and sometimes kill people
Japan has deployed troops to the northern prefecture of Akita to help contain a surge in the number of bear attacks that have terrorised people in the mountainous region.
Unexpected encounters with bears are being reported almost daily in the lead up to hibernation season as the animals forage for food. The bears have been roaming near schools, train stations, supermarkets and even at a hot springs resort.
Scientists are only beginning to grasp the scale of the issue and understand what impact the tree frogs may have on the islands’ rare wildlife
On the way to her office at the Charles Darwin research station, biologist Miriam San José crouches down near a shallow pond shrouded by vegetation and reaches deep into the foliage, pulling out a small green plastic box recorder.
She left it there overnight to capture the infamous croaks of a Fowler’s snouted treefrog (Scinax quinquefasciatus), known to Galápagos scientists as an invasive threat, with repercussions researchers are only beginning to grasp.
From sharks to rays, from island cliffs to the tribes of Africa’s Omo Valley, Cristina Mittermeier’s show A Greater Wisdom celebrates the beauty of our planet – and highlights the biggest threats it faces
New David Attenborough show’s use of drones and moving cameras creates immersive experience like Adolescence
David Attenborough’s new BBC series Kingdom has broken ground by using elements from TV dramas, such as cliffhangers and drone and moving-camera shots, to immerse viewers “into the action” like the hit Netflix drama Adolescence did.
Since the advent of streaming services, there has been an increase in natural history TV shows thanks to the worldwide appeal of the genre popularised by Attenborough and the renowned BBC Studios natural history unit (NHU).
Researchers to investigate whether environmental factors may have affected female animal’s pigmentation
An amateur photographer in southern Spain has captured unprecedented images of a white Iberian lynx, prompting researchers to investigate whether environmental factors could be at play as wildlife watchers revelled in the rare sighting.
Ángel Hidalgo published the images on social media, describing the singular animal as the “white ghost of the Mediterranean forest”.
Inspired by childhood encyclopedias and Jane Goodall, Beth Pratt writes about the more than 150 species in the national park – and transports readers to a rarefied world
A shrill call was followed by a flash of movement through a pile of boulders on a high country slope in Yosemite national park. “Hello, Sophie!” Beth Pratt responded to the round, feisty pika who had briefly emerged to pose defiantly in the sun.
Pratt, a conservation leader and wildlife advocate, has spent more than a decade observing the tiny mammals and the other inhabitants of these serene granite domes and the alpine meadows they overlook, which gleamed gold on a crisp afternoon in mid-October.
Others languishing near bottom of 61-country study include Canada, Germany, Israel, Japan and Spain
Britain is one of the least “nature connected” nations in the world, according to the first ever global study of how people relate to the natural world.
Britain ranks 55th out of 61 countries in the study of 57,000 people, which looks at how attitudes towards nature are shaped by social, economic, geographical and cultural factors.