Three moth species have disappeared from the U.K. in the past decade and two thirds of the species that remain have suffered dramatic population crashes according to new research from the organizations Butterfly Conservation and Rothamsted Research. The news is published in the new report “The State of Britain’s Larger Moths 2013″ (pdf), which covers [...]

U.S. crayfish and their British cousins do not get along. First the U.K. was invaded by the American signal crayfish (Pacifastacus leniusculus) carrying the deadly crayfish plague, which has killed 95 percent of Britain’s native white-clawed crayfish (Austropotamobius pallipes) over the past 20 years. Now another invasive crayfish species—the virile crayfish (Orconectes virilis), native to [...]

Britain’s beloved hedgehogs are in crisis. Some 50,000 hedgehogs die every year under the wheels of cars and trucks throughout the U.K. That high death rate has had a mighty toll on the cute little creatures: There are now 300,000 fewer hedgehogs in Britain than there were a decade ago. (Other threats to hedgehogs include [...]

Scientists and conservationists from around Europe will gather this week at a conference to discuss how to save the U.K.’s white-clawed crayfish (Austropotamobius pallipes) from the fungal plague that is rapidly wiping them out. As I wrote last year, around 95 percent of British crayfish have been killed in the past two decades, victims of [...]