IN BRIEF

Flower power

An initiative called Bee Lines, which aims to create a new network of wildflower corridors to support bees and other pollinators is already proving to be a success in South Downs National Park. Among its projects is the transformation of a field to create a wildflower meadow – a 72 percent increase in pollinator species using the site has now been recorded. Wildflowers are key for pollinators

Critical habitat

A new Zoological Society London report finds that the Thames estuary is an important habitat for porpoises. Surveys conducted in spring 2022 along the south-east coast of the UK found several groups of porpoises, with a significant number residing in the outer Thames.

Saiga bounce back

Saiga antelope numbers in Kazakhstan have made a remarkable recovery, going from fewer than 40,000 individuals in 2005 to 1.3 million today. It’s thanks to an international conservation effort that includes the RSPB and the Kazakhstan government.

Missed chance

No agreement was reached in the latest UN high seas talks. Member states gathered in August but failed to hammer out a long-waited treaty to govern the high seas (200 nautical miles beyond the territorial waters and jurisdiction of nations) and protect marine life.

FACT.

Heard about the shark-infested golf course? A river flood in 1996 stranded several bull sharks in a lake on the 15th hole of a course in Queensland, Australia.