25/04/2024 Illegal fishing, housing estate flock, ash dieback
Listen now
Description
Fishing is a very popular pastime. In England alone, the Environment Agency issued more than 900,000 fishing licenses between March 2022 and April 2023. But illegal fishing on rivers and watercourses is on the up, according to the police, who are stepping up patrols with other agencies. Angling clubs pay thousands of pounds every year to stock rivers with fish for members and taking fish without permission is theft. Better training of police in poaching laws has, however, led to a recent spate of convictions and a legal first for volunteer river bailiffs. A new housing development in Essex is welcoming some new arrivals, but they're not excited home-owners. That’s because houses on the estate at Manningtree come complete with their own flock of sheep and a full-time shepherdess. We’re talking about trees all this week and today it’s the threat to our trees from pests, pathogens and disease. Climate change, pollution, land use change and invasive species are all making trees more vulnerable to pests and diseases, like ash dieback. It was first detected in the UK back in 2012, since then it’s swept across the country with devastating effect on our third most common broad-leaved tree. According to the Woodland Trust, ash dieback will eventually kill up to 80% of ash trees across the UK. Dead trees are dangerous trees, so local authorities are spending millions of pounds managing trees that are deemed unsafe. Presented by Caz Graham and produced by Beatrice Fenton.
More Episodes
New physical checks have been brought in on some imports of food and plants from the EU. Products deemed high or medium risk now have to be inspected - including live animals, meat and some plant products. We report from a border control post to find out how it works. An investigation is under...
Published 05/04/24
The latest figures from Defra show nearly 20,000 badgers were killed across England last year, as part of the Government's policy to tackle TB in cattle. Badger campaigners say that the continued culling is leading to local extinctions. Defra says there are no easy answers, but badger culling...
Published 05/03/24
Published 05/03/24