In 1902 edible dormice were released at an English estate

In 1902, edible dormice were released at an English estate; by 2018 Britain had an estimated 23,000, and the government now pays £40 per hectare a year to control damage to trees, crops and nesting birds

dormouseRepresentative image from Canva In 1902, a small population of edible dormice was released at Tring Park, a private estate in Hertfordshire, as part of a Victorian-era fascination with exotic wildlife. More than a century later, that single introduction has grown into a national problem: by 2018, the Mammal Society estimated around 23,000 edible dormice…

Read More
A Scottish scholar and his American wife bought the remote

A Scottish scholar and his American wife bought the remote island of Canna; 43 years later they gifted it, their home and their life’s work preserving Gaelic culture to the National Trust for Scotland

Campbell and Margaret moved to Canna in 1938 after spending three years living on Barra. John Lorne Campbell and Margaret Fay Shaw had already spent years recording Gaelic songs, stories and traditions when they made the remote Isle of Canna their home in 1938. The Scottish folklorists continued that work from the island for more…

Read More
A couple built a four bedroom home in Wiltshire for their

A couple built a four-bedroom home in Wiltshire for their disabled daughter in 2022, now face council demolition order after planning row over basement and Green Belt rules

A Wiltshire couple face losing the home they built for their disabled daughter after a planning dispute over a basement and Green Belt rules. (Photo: Wiltshire council) A Wiltshire couple have been ordered to demolish the four-bedroom home they have lived in with their disabled daughter for more than four years after a planning dispute…

Read More
Mentmore Towers Batman Begins Wayne Manor in Buckinghamshire could be

Mentmore Towers, Batman Begins’ Wayne Manor in Buckinghamshire, could be seized as owners face deadline to repair crumbling mansion and conduct bat surveys to save historic property

Mentmore Towers, the mansion that became Wayne Manor in Batman Begins, is now at risk of being seized. (Photo: SWNS) The real-life Wayne Manor from Christopher Nolan’s Batman Begins, Mentmore Towers in Buckinghamshire, is at the centre of a preservation battle after the Grade I-listed mansion was served with a formal repairs notice. The property…

Read More
Scottish athlete won her country a medal at the Commonwealth

Scottish athlete won her country a medal at the Commonwealth Games, but had to return to her McDonald’s job days later

You can be at the peak one moment and then at the base the next. That’s how unpredictable life’s highs and lows can be. For a 22-year-old Scottish athlete who won the country a bronze medal at the Commonwealth Games 2026, life returned to normal with her shifts at McDonald’s continuing. Judo competitor Summer Shaw…

Read More
Meghan Markles estranged father Thomas Markle hurt and upset as

Meghan Markle’s estranged father Thomas Markle ‘hurt and upset’ as she and Harry return to UK without meeting Archie and Lilibet: ‘She doesn’t give a damn about me’

Thomas Markle, who has never met Meghan Markle’s children Archie and Lilibet, says he fears he may now never meet his grandchildren. Meghan Markle’s estranged father, Thomas Markle, says he feels “hurt and upset” that his daughter and Prince Harry are reportedly returning to the UK with their children without introducing him to his grandchildren.Thomas…

Read More
Meet the worlds highest ranking penguin Sir Nils Olav III set

Meet the world’s highest-ranking penguin Sir Nils Olav III, set to become a father after partner lays egg; Edinburgh Zoo welcomes first king penguin egg in 17 years

A royal arrival! Sir Nils Olav III and Connie are preparing to become parents after laying Edinburgh Zoo’s first king penguin egg in 17 years. (Photo: SWNS) The world’s highest-ranking penguin, Major General Sir Nils Olav III, Baron of Bouvet Island, is set to become a father after his new partner, Connie, laid an egg…

Read More
UK train disruption CrossCountry cancels services on key routes after

UK train disruption: CrossCountry cancels services on key routes after power cut in Birmingham city centre | World News

CrossCountry cancels services on key routes after power cut in city centre. Train services across the UK have been cancelled after a power cut at CrossCountry’s control centre in Birmingham disrupted systems used to manage its railway network.According to CrossCountry, the outage has affected several systems at its control centre, with the operator cancelling or…

Read More