Simple deterrents can slash the number of razorbills and guillemots being trapped underwater, two-year study shows
Bird-shaped kites and a floating scarecrow are being tested to try to stop endangered seabirds drowning in fishing nets.
Every year an estimated 95,000 diving birds, including razorbills and guillemots, are accidentally caught in nets off European coasts.
Continue reading...In today’s newsletter: Plaid Cymru, the SNP and Sinn Féin have signed an agreement for greater powers, as pressure grows on Westminster over the UK’s future
Good morning. Back in May, the shape of British politics shifted dramatically. I’ll forgive you if you were too preoccupied refreshing Andrew Sparrow’s live blog for the latest speculation about Keir Starmer to notice, but since 7 May, centre-left nationalist parties that ultimately aspire to leave the UK have been in government for the first time simultaneously in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
This week sees the initial codification of that shift. In Cardiff yesterday, Plaid Cymru leader Rhun ap Iorwerth, Scottish National party leader John Swinney and Sinn Féin vice-president Michelle O’Neill (who shares power with the Democratic Unionist party) affirmed their countries’ right to seek independence from the UK. Along with the leader of the opposition in Ireland, Mary Lou McDonald, they signed a memorandum of understanding that called on Westminster “to prepare, plan and facilitate constitutional change in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland”. And they posed for a fair number of group photos too.
Reform UK | Andy Burnham’s government could thwart Reform’s unprecedented £72m donations with retrospective restrictions on political donors that will include tough new residency requirements, ministers have announced.
AI | Donald Trump has dismissed calls to increase controls on AI as a “sick conspiracy”, as stocks linked to the technology slumped after appeals from Anthropic, OpenAI and SpaceX leaders on the weekend for the industry to slow down.
Nato | Nato fighter jets shot down a drone over Lithuania after an alert was issued in the capital and surrounding region, while Poland scrambled fighter jets less than a day after retrieving a suspected Russian drone adrift in its waters.
Middle East | Yemen’s Houthi rebels have seized two strategic islands in the Red Sea, reinforcing the Iran-backed group’s ability to control a key shipping route, as concerns mount that the world is facing a new oil supply crisis.
Lucy Letby | Two leading experts have quit Lucy Letby’s defence team over concerns about the “scientific credibility” of some of its evidence.
Continue reading...Half of county’s planning infringement notices target caravans in fields, fuelling eviction fears for vulnerable people
People living in caravans and horseboxes on farms in Cornwall because they can’t afford or find a house to rent are facing homelessness after a crackdown by the council.
Cornwall council recently announced that it was one of the top five authorities in England for enforcing infringements of planning regulations. Half of those notices, it said, were served on caravans in agricultural fields.
Continue reading...Go Cornish Celebration engages younger generation as council finalises strategy to boost everyday use of Kernewek
Seven-year-old Albie, a pupil at Trewirgie infants’ school in Redruth, did not hesitate when asked why he liked learning Kernewek, the Cornish language.
“We used to talk this way in the old days,” he said. “And I like speaking now. I enjoy the songs we sing, the Cornish books we read, all the words. It’s fun.”
Continue reading...North Yorkshire police also confirm discovery of a body in a river in search for missing 12-year-old boy
An 11-year-old girl has died after an incident in the water at a beauty spot in Cornwall, while police searching for a missing 12-year-old boy in North Yorkshire have found a body in a river.
Emergency services were called to Wacker Quay on the Lynher River near Torpoint, Cornwall, at about 6pm on Saturday after being alerted about a person in the water, police said.
Continue reading...Police say only one set of human remains found after Alison Hernandez told meeting ‘dead bodies’ recovered from site
A police and crime commissioner has apologised for claiming that multiple human remains had been discovered in woodland in Cornwall at the centre of a murder investigation.
Alison Hernandez told a meeting of the Devon and Cornwall police and crime panel that “dead bodies” had been found at Sticker, near St Austell, and investigations were continuing to establish exactly how many.
Continue reading...British team says new study ‘radically transforms’ understanding of bronze age trade networks
In about 1300BC, the major civilisations of the eastern Mediterranean made a cultural and technological leap forward when they began using bronze much more widely for weapons, tools and jewellery. While a form of the metal had previously been used in smaller quantities by the Mycenaeans and Egyptians among others, bronze was now abundant – but how?
Most bronze is an alloy of copper and tin, but while the former was widely available in antiquity, tin is a rare element, with no large sources within thousands of kilometres. This left one big question, referred to by archaeologists as the “tin problem”. Where were the bronze age societies of the Mediterranean getting the tin for their bronze?
Continue reading...Met Office expects a month’s worth of rain in 48 hours to end warm and dry spell
A month’s worth of rain is expected to fall on parts of the UK within 48 hours as the good weather the country has basked in for weeks comes to a soggy end.
Western England and the whole of Wales have been warned of possible flooding as the Easter weekend approaches.
Continue reading...Interventions follow US vice president’s comments about ‘20,000 troops from some random country that has not fought a war in 40 years’. This live blog is closed
In response to a question about intelligence cooperation with the US, Sir David Manning, a former ambassador to Washington, said he thought this would become “more difficult” because there was a problem of trust. He explained:
If you have some of Trump’s appointees in these key jobs who have very strange track records, and have said very strange things about Nato allies, the Nato alliance and so on, and you have people in the administration who seem to be, let’s say, looking for ways of appeasing Russia, then you have a problem on the intelligence front, because these are not the values that we have.
Continue reading...Fourth named storm of the season follows concern over lack of flooding warnings for Storm Bert last week
An amber warning for wind has been issued for large parts of the UK, with power cuts and flying debris possible amid the arrival of the fourth named storm of the season.
Storm Darragh is expected to bring gusts of up to 80mph and heavy rain late on Friday and into Saturday.
Continue reading...Work first in a series from poet laureate about wildlife that exists in the Lost Gardens of Heligan
A new haiku by the poet laureate Simon Armitage has appeared on a garden wall in Cornwall, the first of a series of pieces celebrating the creatures that make their home among the woods, meadows and ferns there.
Armitage’s haiku, Web, celebrates the silky but deadly threads that spiders “darn” in the hedges at the Lost Gardens of Heligan and was unveiled together with an illuminated 2-metre recreation of a walnut orb-weaver spider as part of a midwinter night trail.
Web can be seen at Heligan Night Garden, which is open on select dates, until 4 January and Dwell will be published by Faber.
Continue reading...Family of Callum Tindal-Draper, 22, say he died following his ‘heart, soul and morals’ and was ‘as brave as they come’
A British man has been killed while fighting in Ukraine for the country’s foreign volunteer platoon.
Callum Tindal-Draper, 22, had travelled to the country to join the fight against Russia despite his family’s pleas for him not to. His father, Steven Draper, paid tribute to his son, a former NHS worker from Gunnislake in Cornwall, in an interview with BBC News.
Continue reading...Bude Sea Pool could become what is believed would be only the seawater wedding venue in England
Couples may soon be able to get married while floating on the tide, should Bude Sea Pool in Cornwall become the first such venue in England to receive a wedding licence.
A mass commitment ceremony was held earlier this month to raise funds for the application, with organisers saying they believe it would be the only place in the country where people would be able to marry in seawater.
Continue reading...Neighbours complaining of building noise from property in Mawgan Porth, reports say
It is the latest sequel in the long-running saga over the luxury ecohome Cate Blanchett is building in a picturesque seaside town in Cornwall once dubbed “Hollywood-on-Sea”.
Neighbours have accused the actor of destroying family holidays with the building noise from the property in Mawgan Porth, it has been reported.
Continue reading...Joey the tortoise, from Cornwall, is recovering after surgery to remove 150g growth
Joey, an 82-year-old tortoise in Cornwall, is recovering from surgery after the removal of a bladder stone the size of a cricket ball.
Two veterinary surgeons had to cut through Joey’s shell to remove the growth, which at 150g was almost three times the weight of a tennis ball.
Continue reading...Danger-to-life warning issued as first named storm of autumn damages buildings and disrupts travel
Gusts of 70mph were recorded as the first named storm of the autumn, Agnes, swept across Britain and Ireland, damaging buildings, causing travel delays and leaving homes without power.
The Met Office issued severe weather warnings covering much of the UK, where strong winds and heavy rain were expected on Wednesday evening and into Thursday.
Continue reading...Robin Caliskal was in water with family just an hour into holiday at Atlantic Reach holiday park in Newquay
A five-year-old boy has drowned in a swimming pool at a resort in Cornwall, police have said, just an hour after arriving for a family holiday.
Robin Caliskal was swimming with his parents and six-month-old brother at the Atlantic Reach holiday park in Newquay when he got into difficulty. Medics were called just after 5pm on Monday but he was pronounced dead at the scene.
Continue reading...Celtic authorities to work together on areas such as holiday homes crisis, offshore wind and language conservation
They are separated by choppy waters – and different political ideologies.
But the leaders of Wales and Cornwall have come together to sign an agreement vowing to work together on shared issues, ranging from the crisis of holiday homes to the prospect of cooperating on offshore wind power projects in the Celtic Sea.
Continue reading...The 87-mile trail follows the River Tamar and links with other routes to create circular walk around whole county
Following the banks of one of the UK’s great rivers, a new walking way has been unveiled linking the north and south coasts of Cornwall and for the first time creating a circular walk around the whole of the county.
The 87-mile (140km) Tamara Coast to Coast Way broadly tracks the River Tamar, which forms most of the border between Cornwall and Devon, taking in landscapes ranging from wooded valley to rolling farmland, heather-covered moors and areas shaped by the region’s mining history.
Continue reading...Police were called when the female, called Sundara, was spotted roaming the town on Monday
An 11-month-old red panda surprised workers in Cornwall after escaping from Newquay zoo.
Police received a call on Monday morning about the escaped red panda strolling down the streets of Newquay. Workers at a fruit wholesaler had spotted the creature, whose name is Sundara, and distracted her with an apple to keep her from running off again.
Continue reading...