The Guardian Environment

• Labour MPs press for right to roam policy in England after supreme court ruling

  Backbencher says ‘it’s time to resolve the issues of access to the English countryside once and for all’

  Labour backbenchers are pressing the government to revive a right to roam policy in England after a supreme court ruling enshrined the right to wild camp on Dartmoor.

  The court ruled this week that camping on the national park was legal after a multimillionaire hedge fund manager tried to remove the right to camp on his Devon estate, and by extension from the rest of the park.

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• Scientists seek to save Florida’s dying reefs with hardy nursery-grown coral

  Reefs off the Keys have lost 90% of healthy coral cover in 40 years, but replanting effort aims to make reef more resilient

  A taskforce of experts looking into the mass bleaching and decline of Florida’s delicate coral reefs is planting more than 1,000 nursery-grown juveniles from the reef-building elkhorn species in a new effort to reverse the tide of destruction.

  Record ocean heat in 2023 hastened the death spiral for reefs in the Florida Keys, which have lost 90% of their healthy coral cover over the last 40 years, largely because of the climate emergency, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa).

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• Climate change could bring insect-borne tropical diseases to UK, scientists warn

  Mosquito experts say cuts in aid will lead to collapse of crucial surveillance and control in endemic countries

  Climate change could make the UK vulnerable to insect-transmitted tropical diseases that were previously only found in hot countries, scientists have warned, urging ministers to redouble efforts to contain their spread abroad.

  Leading mosquito experts said the government’s cuts to international aid would lead to a collapse in crucial surveillance, control and treatment programmes in endemic countries, leading to more deaths.

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• Young country diary: Peregrine v pigeon? There’s only one winner | Olivier

  Canary Wharf, London: I saw a young falcon a few months ago get itself trapped, I wonder if this was the same one, now grown up and a formidable hunter

  I was walking home from schoolwhen a group of pigeons scattered from their perch atop a nearby building. Then, out of the sky, dropping like a piece of shrapnel, was the source of the commotion. As the peregrine falcon levelled out of its stoop, it careered into one of the birds, the pair plummeting out of sight, the pigeon inevitably dead from the sheer force of the impact. The last remnant of the skirmish was a handful of small grey feathers that gently drifted to the ground where they lay, a testament to the hunting prowess of the falcon.

  The incident reminded me of one several months earlier. I had heard a crash from our balcony, and, looking out, I saw a juvenile peregrine falcon, which had maybe overshot while attempting to land and was now trapped there. It quickly righted itself and ruffled its wings, disgruntled and distressed. I watched as it managed to extricate itself, and wing its way back to Canary Wharf.

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• Labour blocks proposal for ‘swift bricks’ in all new homes

  MPs had previously backed Conservative amendment to ask developers to provide hollow bricks for endangered birds

  Providing every new home with at least one “swift brick” to help endangered cavity-nesting birds has been rejected by Labour at the committee stage of its increasingly controversial planning bill.

  The amendment to the bill to ask every developer to provide a £35 hollow brick for swifts, house martins, sparrows and starlings, which was tabled by Labour MP Barry Gardiner, has been rejected by the Labour-dominated committee.

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