1 hour ago ‘It’s a monster task’: can culling ferrets and rats save one of the UK’s largest seabird colonies?

Puffins, Manx shearwaters and kittiwakes on Rathlin Island in Northern Ireland have been dying. Now islanders and experts think they have the solutionThe dramatic sea cliffs, crags and stacks of Rathlin Island, county Antrim, rise more than 200 metres above the Atlantic Ocean and host one of the UK’s largest seabird colonies, including hundreds of endangered puffins, attracting up to 20,000 birders and tourists a year.On a spectacularly sunny day in September, the cliff faces are devoid of birds, with the puffins already having made their annual migration to spend the winter months at sea. Instead, Rathlin’s cliffs are dotted with roped-up figures in harnesses and bulging rucksacks, directed from above by a Scottish mountaineer, via a walkie-talkie. Continue reading...

Politics

8 hours ago Storm Ashley: Met Office issue new weather warning as up to 65mm of rain set to batter UK

Storm Ashley is set to batter parts of the UK this weekend with amber and yellow weather warnings now in place for parts of Scotland, Northern Ireland, Wales and in both northern and southwest England

Events

16 hours ago Cooking for one? Sometimes frozen lasagne just won’t cut it and life calls for a cheese soufflé | Rachel Cooke

A new book of classic but simple recipes makes solo cooking more pleasure than choreLike many people, I read a lot during the Covid-19 lockdown, and one of the books I enjoyed most in those strange, silent months was a memoir by the novelist Michèle Roberts called Negative Capability: an account of being alone, but not lonely. In the face of what people on social media like to call (ugh) self-care, Roberts wrote of her efforts to be good to herself after a painful rejection without recourse either to self-pity or to yoga. Four years on, I still sometimes pull it from the shelf when I’m feeling embattled. Radiant and meditative, a few pages are all I need to get going again; to remind myself to pay attention to everything, and by doing so both to recognise and to give thanks for what gre...

Politics

22 hours ago Weather: Met Office issues 'danger to life' warning as Storm Ashley barrels towards UK

The Met Office has issued an amber weather warning ahead of the first named storm of the season, which is set to hit the UK on Sunday.

Events

23 hours ago Storm Ashley sees 'weather bombs' forecast to batter UK as 80 mph winds on way

Storm Ashley is set to batter parts of the UK this weekend with amber and yellow weather warnings now in place for parts of Scotland, Northern Ireland, Wales and northern England

Events

24 hours ago Storm Ashley strikes! Threat to life warning as weather bomb hits with 80mph winds and heavy rain

After an unseasonably hot week for October, Storm Ashley is due to sweep across Northern Ireland , Scotland, parts of Wales and northern England.

Events