The Guardian Environment

• England’s reservoirs at lowest level for a decade as experts call for hosepipe bans

  Levels even lower than in severe drought year of 2022, data shows, with water firms urged to ‘be proactive’

  England’s reservoirs are at their lowest levels for a decade, new data reveals, as experts urge water companies to immediately put hosepipe bans in place.

  In June, reservoirs across the country were 76% full, which is below their level in the severe drought year of 2022 when they were at 77% capacity at this time in the summer.

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• Risotto rice under threat from flamingoes in north-eastern Italy

  Farmers are seeking ways to fend off birds who are stirring up soil in flooded paddy fields in Ferrara province

  An unusual bird is ravaging crops and infuriating farmers in north-eastern Italy: the flamingo.

  Flamingos are relatively recent arrivals in the area, and have settled into the flooded fields that produce rice for risotto in Ferrara province, between Venice and Ravenna.

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• Country diary: Enter dolphins, stage left, ripping apart the limpid sea | Nigel Brown

  Ynys Môn (Anglesey): Their energy was breathtaking, their display thrilling – though this was also a purposeful signal of their fitness

  Eventide, and calm waters were slowly departing the warm sands of a small bay in Ynys Môn. The dark igneous rocks that bound the bay had retained some midsummer heat, providing a comfortable vantage point to enjoy the sunset. In the shallows, a lone spectator watched the deep pink of the sea. My eyes followed hers and landed on two grey seals, their heads implanted in the iridescent waters. They watched, we watched, then they lazily slipped below, hardly a ripple raised.

  Enter the Risso’s dolphins. A pod of four surfaced stage left, injecting the scene with breathtaking energy; their stout, torpedo-shaped, pale grey bodies surging forth, tall dark dorsal fins ripping the limpid sea apart. One after another, they breached clear of the water, their power and scale full blown, heightened by the intimacy of the bay. A thrilling display – but also, scientifically, a purposeful, non-verbal signal of their intrinsic fitness to potential mates and competitors. In midsummer, Risso’s migrate from the pelagic deeps into the relatively shallow shelf waters of the Celtic Sea, perhaps providing more opportunities for social interactions.

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• Toxic Pfas above proposed safety limits in almost all English waters tested

  Exclusive: 110 of 117 bodies of water tested by Environment Agency would fail standards, with levels in fish 322 times the planned limit

  Nearly all rivers, lakes and ponds in England tested for a range of Pfas, known as “forever chemicals”, exceed proposed new safety limits and 85% contain levels at least five times higher, analysis of official data reveals.

  Out of 117 water bodies tested by the Environment Agency for multiple types of Pfas, 110 would fail the safety standard, according to analysis by Wildlife and Countryside Link and the Rivers Trust.

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• ‘It can’t withstand the heat’: fears ‘stable’ Patagonia glacier in irreversible decline

  Scientists say Perito Moreno, which for decades defied trend of glacial retreat, now rapidly losing mass

  One of the few stable glaciers in a warming world, Perito Moreno, in Santa Cruz province, Argentina, is now undergoing a possibly irreversible retreat, scientists say.

  Over the past seven years, it has lost 1.92 sq km (0.74 sq miles) of ice cover and its thickness is decreasing by up to 8 metres (26 ft) a year.

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