Swainson’s hawks (All about birds photo) A piece of abandoned farmland in California, once covered with weeds and unwanted grasses, has become home to a rare bird that had not been confirmed nesting in the area for about 30 years. In 2023, conservation workers began restoring 150 acres of land near the Sacramento River. They…

Conservationists restoring habitat at a historic estate in Northumberland have rediscovered a hidden population of one of England’s rarest insects, finding the species just 10 minutes into a survey at a site where it had not been recorded for more than 70 years. Dr Dave Wainwright, a senior conservation scientist with Butterfly Conservation, found a…

PC: Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission Once a thriving silver-mining settlement with more than 1,000 residents, Ruby City was at the centre of Washington’s mining boom in the late 19th century. Prospectors, investors and businesses flocked to the town as silver discoveries fuelled hopes of prosperity. However, declining silver prices, limited mineral deposits and…

Wyoming tetons Representative image from Canva Deep in the rock record of Wyoming, a layer of fossil leaves tells a quiet but powerful story about what happens to forests when the planet warms rapidly. About 56 million years ago, during a spike in global temperatures known as the Paleocene Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM), a lush…