Portsmouth Water will “re-wild” 80-hectares of local farmland – the equivalent of around 112 football pitches – in partnership with an environmental trust, as part of its Havant Thicket Reservoir project.

An area bigger than the size of Hertfordshire is to be dedicated to fast tracking nature recovery as six new landscape-scale nature recovery projects are launched by Natural England and the government.

Landowners, farmers and conservationists from the Lake District and Yorkshire Dales are joining forces in an ambitious partnership to create one of the UK’s largest nature-focused landscape programmes.

The UK government has unveiled its third National Adaptation Programme (NAP3) which sets out a strategic five-year plan to boost resilience and protect people, homes, businesses and the UK’s cultural heritage against climate change risks such as flooding, drought and heatwaves.

With temperatures climbing, the Environment Agency is asking the public to help protect rivers and watercourses this summer by reporting sightings of fish in distress and algal blooms.

Since 2020 the Environment Agency has been working in partnership with Norfolk Rivers Trust to improve an internationally important chalk stream, the River Wensum.

The government has confirmed that farmers and landowners will receive funding and support for projects to create new habitats for wildlife, help protected sites and boost efforts to reach net zero, alongside sustainable food production.