In Australia: giant spider carrying a mouse is horrifying and impressive
Forget pizza rat and cigarette crab and prepare yourself for spider mouse, the super strong and very hungry Australian arachnid Australia’s litany of fearsome fauna seems to have a new entry. Added to deadly snakes, man-eating crocodiles and poisonous jellyfish comes Hermie the hunstman, a spider so unusually large and strong that it had no […]
Environment group named in Wikileaks email release responds to attacks
The low-profile Australian group Sunrise Project hits back at coal lobby after being criticised over funding sources shown in hacked US Democrat emails The head of a usually quiet environmental group in Australia has hit back against News Corp and coal lobby attacks after hacked emails revealed it was partly funded from overseas. Two emails […]
Victoria's Hazelwood power station to close, French media reports say
Utility company Engie say no decision has been made regarding the future of Australia’s most polluting coal-fired power plant despite reports in Les Echos French utility Engie has decided to close down Victoria’s coal-fired Hazelwood power station – Australia’s most polluting – at a meeting between the board and executives last week, according to a […]
Huge huntsman spider tries to eat a mouse – video
Arachnophobes, look away now. Footage has emerged from Queensland, Australia, that appears to show an oversized huntsman spider with a dead mouse in its clutches. The vision was shot by Jason Womal, who explained on Facebook that he was about to leave for work in the early hours of the morning when a neighbour asked […]
Shark attack near Byron Bay leaves surfer with minor leg injuries
Attack on beach between Suffolk Park and Broken Head in northern NSW follows a weekend protest against plan to install shark nets in the area A man has escaped a run-in with a shark on the New South Wales north coast with just a few teeth marks on his thigh. He was taken to Byron […]
Flood defences 'skewed towards wealthy families and regions'
Press Association study suggests flood protection funding formula tilts system towards richer households and areas The system for allocating taxpayers’ money to flood defence schemes favours protecting wealthy families and those in the south-east, analysis suggests. The government has said it applies a strict economic formula to deciding where funding should be spent. But an […]
'Overwhelming' case for Heathrow expansion, says commission chair
Sir Howard Davies, of the Airports Commission, lends backing to expanding UK’s largest airport instead of Gatwick The case for Heathrow expansion is now “overwhelming”, according to the man who led the government-commissioned review of airport capacity. Sir Howard Davies, chair of the Airports Commission, said Brexit underlined the need for a “clear strategic decision” […]
Daylight penetrates deep recesses of the woods: Country diary 100 years ago
Originally published in the Manchester Guardian on 27 October 1916 Surrey, October 27Things change more rapidly in their appearance now in one day than they did in two a fortnight ago, but this is seen mostly in the valleys and the greater woods which border the streams. Under the trees you walk ankle deep in […]
A handsome pest with a taste for aromatic plants
The rosemary beetle arrived in Britain over twenty years ago, and is chewing its way through our culinary favourites – heading north at an alarming rate If you discover your favourite aromatic plants and herbs are looking chewed this autumn the culprit is almost certainly the rosemary beetle (Chrysolina Americana), an unwelcome new addition to […]
Airport expansion’s disastrous effects, near and far | Letters
The government’s decision to greenlight aviation expansion (Chris Grayling: decision on airport expansion to be made on Tuesday, theguardian.com, 23 October) is a predictable failure, but not an acceptable one. With the scrapping of vital decarbonisation policies and funding, the UK is already way off-track to meet our climate change commitments. The impacts of any […]