Crews tackle lorry fire on new build estate in Worksop
He said: "We expect to be scaling down the incident in a couple of hours and will provide further updates as appropriate."
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The Independent
5 hours ago
- The Independent
How beavers could become key to preventing droughts
Conservationists are championing river restoration and the reintroduction of beavers as crucial strategies to build landscape resilience against the escalating risk of drought. With two northern regions already in drought thanks to the UK 's driest spring in 132 years, the South West of England offers a compelling case study. Despite receiving only half its average spring rainfall, the National Trust 's Holnicote estate on Exmoor, Somerset, has maintained lush vegetation and thriving wetlands thanks to extensive river restoration work. The estate's 'Riverlands' project, launched in 2020, released beavers into two enclosures and worked to restore the River Aller to a 'stage zero' state – its natural, multi-channelled form with pools and shallow riffles, as it would have been before human interference. This approach, pioneered in Oregon, US, involved diggers moving over 4,000 tonnes of earth and laying hundreds of logs within the floodplain, marking the UK's first attempt at scale on a main river. Thousands of wetland trees were also planted and wildflower seeds sown to attract pollinators, demonstrating how natural solutions can help landscapes adapt to the increasing extremes of climate change. The project to give the river space and connect to its floodplain, completed just two years ago, has created a new natural landscape from once neat agricultural fields, with channels, pools, wetlands and marshes. The wetlands are rich in plants, the young trees are starting to grow and meadows in the floodplain are full of wildflowers. The landscape – along with the nearby beaver wet woodland – slows down the flow of water and holds it in the landscape to reduce flooding and counteract drought, as well as reducing pollution and loss of sediment, the Trust said. The wetlands that have been created are habitat for water voles, as well as an array of birds, insects and fish including eels. Ben Eardley, senior project manager for the National Trust in Somerset, said curbing flooding was a big part of the reason for the project, with communities downstream at Allerford and Bossington suffering from floods in the past. 'But then increasingly, you can see the impacts of hotter dry weather which I think are equally important in addressing,' he said. While some restoration schemes only improve the river channel itself, the work at Holnicote makes the wider landscape more resilient, he suggested. Even after the dry spring, the beaver enclosures, where the animals have created pools, dams and woodland clearings, were still 'brim full' of water, while the restored river catchment stays wet year-round, Mr Eardley said. The denser vegetation acts like a blanket on the soil, holding moisture in and keeping the soil temperature more consistent, he added. 'It's a combination of different things that lead to more resilience. 'And it's not saying that you have to have all of those things everywhere, but if you've got more diverse landscape with a greater mosaic of different habitats. then just by default, you'll have greater resilience,' he said. Farmers and landowners are among those who visit the 'exemplar' river restoration project, which comes amid intense debate over competing uses of land in the UK – for food security, energy production, climate action and to help restore nature and natural processes that can benefit people. Mr Eardley argues that it does not have to be a binary choice between beavers or river restoration and agriculture, but land could be managed to provide both, with benefits for landscapes which are suffering more extreme weather throughout the year as the climate changes. 'You might need to sacrifice some small areas for beaver habitat or whatever. 'But then in that wider landscape you're going to have better, lusher grazing for longer, during those summer months, whereas before, everything would have burnt off,' he said. 'Because you've got higher groundwater levels, your soil and your vegetation are healthier.' Stewart Clarke, senior national freshwater consultant at the National Trust said: 'Water is at the forefront of climate change impacts including flooding and drought, and after a very dry first six months of the year and with many UK regions either in or on the cusp of being in drought conditions, looking after the lifeblood of our landscapes is absolutely vital.' He said that giving rivers more space could create 'nature-rich corridors' through towns and countryside, store water during floods and droughts and give rivers space to adapt to changing flows. The riverlands project is one of a number of schemes the trust had undertaken to 'future proof' rivers, he said, adding: 'The new stage 0 wetland, and the beaver wetlands which it resembles, have created important stores of water and carbon to help in the fight against climate change. 'Over the coming years we aim to create and restore hundreds of such wetlands both for these benefits to people and for the rich wildlife they can support.' And while the Holnicote beavers are currently in enclosures – though prone to escaping – following the Government's recent decision to allow licensed beaver releases into the wild in England, the National Trust is applying to be able to have wild beavers on the estate. Then the beavers could link up with the stage 0 river landscape, and ultimately take over its management in their role as ecosystem engineers.
Daily Mail
5 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Here's why the seeded stars are dropping like flies at Wimbledon - and it's NOT because of the surface
As Jack Draper 's cross-court forehand dropped beyond the chalked line on Thursday evening not only did another British hopeful's Wimbledon dreams fade away but his defeat cemented a curious piece of history that's left everyone searching for answers. Draper, the No4 seed, became the 36th seeded singles player across the men's and women's draws to be eliminated before the third round, the most in Grand Slam history, surpassing the previous record of 35 at the 2020 French Open. It's been the story of the Championships. Twenty-three seeds went out in round one alone, including eight top 10 seeds, including Alexander Zverev and French Open champion Coco Gauff, the most in any Slam since the start of the Open in 1968. Only one of the top five women's seeds began the fifth day still in the tournament, Aryna Sabalenka, who went on to beat Emma Raducanu 8-6, 6-4, and soon No6 seed Madison Keys lost in straight sets to the oldest woman left in the draw, the 37-year-old Laura Siegemund. The talk over the first few days was that the Wimbledon courts were to blame. They were too slow. 'This isn't grass anymore, raged Denis Shapovalov, the Canadian 27th seed who was knocked out in the first round, 'the court is slower than a clay one.' American third seed Jessica Pegula, who lost in less than an hour in the first round, said the courts 'felt different'. Iga Swiatek thought the ball 'bounced differently'. That was to be expected. Wimbledon began in the midst of a heatwave with temperatures north of 32 degrees on the opening day making it the hottest in history. Head groundsman Neil Stubley said the heat would make it play slower as the dry grass grips the ball harder. He revealed his team put stuff in the soil that makes water 'wetter' so it can soak up more moisture from it when the mercury starts to rise. It all felt a bit too much like players looking for excuses. Wimbledon's grass is cut to the same 8mm length every morning. 'I think it's the same as previous years,' said No11 seed Alex de Minaur, fiance of Britain's Katie Boulter. 'It is on the slower side but that's something we all know and are used to. It's about finding ways to use it to your advantage.' 'I can assure you Novak's shots did not feel slow,' added Dan Evans after his second-round defeat to Djokovic. What's more likely a cause of so many upsets is the quick turnaround from the clay court season to the grass with just three weeks between the end of the French Open and the start of Wimbledon. Two completely different surfaces, with different skillsets required as clay plays a lot slower, with higher bounces and more spin to the slicker, lower skid of the grass. It's why only six men in history, with Carlos Alcaraz the most recent, have won the 'Channel Slam' – the French Open and Wimbledon back-to-back – and why no woman single's player has completed it since Serena Williams ten years ago. 'This slam out of all of them is the most prone to have upsets because of how quick the turnaround is from clay,' said Gauff, who triumphed at Roland Garros but only played one match on grass before her first-round exit here. It wasn't much better in Paris where 33 – including 20 in the women's draw – were knocked out before round three. 'I feel a little bit of pressure because obviously you feel like the opportunity [of an upset] is there,' admitted 13th seed Amanda Anisimova. The real reason, perhaps, is a simple one. The standard of tennis is just improving. There's less of a gap between the good players and the decent ones. 'The level of tennis increased a lot,' said 14th seed Andrey Rublev, who reached the fourth round on Friday. 'The players even 80 or 90 in the world all know how to play tennis. 'When I started, you could see the difference between top 10 and then the rest. Now you see the difference between Alcaraz and Sinner but from number 3 or 4 in the world, it's more or less the level is there.' It was left to former world No1 and Australian Open and US Open champion Naomi Osaka, now unseeded, to sum it up best: 'I think everyone's really good. That's kind of the issue.'
BBC News
9 hours ago
- BBC News
Multiple crews called to derelict building fire in Matlock
Multiple crews are tackling a blaze at a derelict building in were called to a former quarry site in Dale Road in Matlock at 18:40 BST on Fire and Rescue Service (DFRS) said the blaze could "be seen several miles away due to its location".Anyone who can smell or see smoke from the fire is urged to keep their windows and doors shut. DFRS said seven fire engines, two water carriers and two aerial ladder platforms had been sent to the services are expected to remain there for "some considerable time", it added.
