James Cutting

Last Thursday, MPs voted down Amendment 130 (renamed Amendment 40 in the Commons) to the Planning & Infrastructure Bill a basic but vital safeguard for our wildlife and habitats. This was not a small adjustment; it was a serious environmental protection that hundreds of NGOs were calling for and now we face the risk of irreversible damage to threatened ecosystems.

The Eurasian Curlew (Numenius arquata) is the largest wader in the UK, its distinctive silhouette known to many, even if its breeding sites are not. But the song we still hear through the winter mist may not always grace our future. In recent decades, this once common bird has suffered one of the most significant declines of any UK species.

A Forest of Promise The forest near Velipoja, not far from Albania’s Adriatic shore, carried the rich scent of transformation. Rain had...