News & Stories – Page 4 – Oxford Nature Network

Selected News and Stories

wildflower meadow with fields and trees in distance — Wildflower meadow in Oxfordshire. Photo Yadvinder Malhi

The great significance of observing nature in your back garden

Yadvinder Malhi shares his rediscovery of nature at the local level Like many, I have found solace and refuge in local nature over this year of pandemic and lockdown. When able to escape from Zoom calls and cabin fever, I’ve wandered and exercised in my local floodplain meadow of the Thames. I’ve used books and […]

Nature Networking Coffee morning & talk

Join us on October 22nd 2026 at 10.30 in Seminar rooms 1&2 in the Oxford Martin School for refreshments and pastries, at 11am our speaker will join us for an informal talk. 4 million UK votes for nature. The Why and How of school-based nature education (a brief introduction). Kim Polgreen. Dept. of Education & […]

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Would a whitelist work better to regulate the world’s wildlife...

Dr Dan Challender and Dr Amy Hinsley discuss a new paper in which they evaluate the potential of ‘reverse listing’ to regulate international wildlife trade, highlighting that this approach is not a panacea. Globally, people use and trade at least 50,000 wild species for food, medicinal products, construction materials, and to support their livelihoods, among […]

Inspired by Nature. Powered by People

Celebrating a Remarkable Nature Festival 2026. On Saturday 27 June, as Oxfordshire experienced one of the hottest days of the year, hundreds of people came together for something worth celebrating: a festival that connected people with nature, with each other and with the inspiring work taking place to protect our environment. Despite the heatwave, The […]

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How hedgehog droppings can be used to study biodiversity at...

By Dr Sophie Lund Rasmussen (Dr Hedgehog), WildCRU, Department of Biology Biodiversity is vanishing before our eyes. It is important to monitor biodiversity loss to optimise and target the conservation efforts needed to mitigate this situation. But how? By using hedgehog poo of course! During my many nights of fieldwork radio-tracking the charismatic European hedgehogs […]

Nature-friendly farming budget swells in UK – but cuts elsewhere...

Written by Nathalie Seddon Nature in the UK appeared to receive a rare funding boost in the June spending review, with the government setting a spending target of up to £2 billion a year for England’s environmental land management (ELM) scheme by 2028-29. By steering public funds toward farmers who restore hedgerows, soils and wetlands, […]

Acoustic monitoring fieldwork in the Scottish Highlands

We have just completed two weeks of successful data collection in Caledonian pinewood in the Scottish Highlands. Using passive acoustic monitoring to survey bats and birds, and trialling a method for assessing invertebrates. As often happens with fieldwork, we had a clear reminder that you should always expect the unexpected and be prepared to adapt […]

Bridging Worlds: Reflections on the role of academia in addressing...

In a world facing accelerating biodiversity loss, Oxford Martin Visiting Fellow Leah Gerber hosted a panel conversation that brought together different voices focused on the role of academia in conservation. This grew from a January talk on Understanding pathways of knowledge to action in biodiversity conservation and a February talk about knowledge production for decision-making […]

From Urgency to Participation: It is important that nature recovery...

Allegra Bundy, MSc student in Biodiversity, Conservation and Management, reflects on the participatory process and key findings of her dissertation project, ‘From Urgency to Participation: Navigating Complexities in Nature Recovery in the Scottish Highlands’. The project, which was awarded a distinction, was supervised by Dr Caitlin Hafferty and supported by the Leverhulme Centre for Nature […]

Biodiversity Network Coffee Mornings – Trinity Term

8th May: GLAM and biodiversity: Partnering for a sustainable future – Jon Ray The Gardens, Libraries, and Museums (GLAM) have set a biodiversity net gain target in line with the University’s goals. GLAM occupies over 50 buildings across Oxford, cares for over 21 million objects, specimens, and printed items, and receives over 3.5 million visitors […]

Nature Seminar Series – Trinity Term

Friday 6th May: Transforming Nature-based Solutions – Nathalie Seddon, University of Oxford Nature-based Solutions (NbS) are increasingly hailed as a means of tackling climate and biodiversity crises while benefiting society. Yet they’re often reduced to carbon-offset schemes or narrowly focused projects, overlooking their power for deeper systemic change. In this talk, I will explore how […]

Sophus zu Ermgassen features in new Natural History Museum exhibition.

Oxford University researcher, Sophus zu Ermgassen appears in a wonderful new, free and permanent exhibition in London’s Museum of Natural History. You never need an excuse to visit this magnificent museum, and this exhibit should definitely be on your list of things to see when you next visit. Packed with contemporary science from our world-leading […]

Why ‘de-extinct’ dire wolves are a Trojan horse to hide...

Rich Grenyer, University of Oxford With wildlife populations globally 73% smaller on average than in 1970 and large mammals missing from much of the world, surely there’s never been a better time to “de-extinct” species? US biotech company Colossal Biosciences Inc claimed to do just that recently by resurrecting the dire wolf from Game of […]

Exploring Kenya’s Savannas: Insights from Megha Ojha’s Fieldwork

Leverhulme Centre for Nature Recovery postdoctoral researcher, Megha Ojha, recently embarked on an inspiring journey to Kenya. Here she visited the Natural State Research Centre, a non-profit organization actively working in the Kenyan savannas, a region of unparalleled ecological significance. Megha is a postdoctoral researcher in the Ecosystems Lab in the Environmental Change Institute, where […]

From Greening to Wellbeing

Researcher Wendee Zhang presented her research at a recent Healthy Ecosystems Restoration in Oxfordshire (HERO) meeting this week, she discusses spatial and social-economic disparities in school outdoor greenness and the impact on mental wellbeing and school attendance in children and adolescents, you can watch it here now.

man with a beard sits in a field with some long grasses in front of him, a border collie dog sits beside him — Professor David Macdonald CBE, FRSE. Credit: Cody Altizer

Linnean Medal 2025 awarded to wildlife biologist Professor David Macdonald

Professor David Macdonald CBE Professor David Macdonald, who founded the Department of Biology’s Wildlife Conservation Research Unit (WildCRU), has been awarded the Linnean Medal for long-standing and significant contributions to natural sciences. Through almost 40 years of wildlife research at WildCRU, David has contributed extensively to studies of a wide range of species including foxes, […]