Birdwatching may have started out as a hobby, but active volunteers are helping bridge data gaps of threatened species and reaping real world outcomes as they go Change by Degrees offers life hacks and sustainable living tips each Saturday to help reduce your household’s carbon footprint Got a question or tip for reducing household emissions? Email us at changebydegrees@theguardian.com Sean Dooley first started birdwatching as a 10-year-old with a notebook in hand at a place then known as the “Seaford swamp”, a freshwater wetland beside his primary school in Melbourne’s south-east. “I was ju ..read more

Experts celebrate discovery of secretive and endangered Australasian bittern in recently restored wetlands Get our morning and afternoon news emails, free app or daily news podcast The “bunyip bird” – named after a mythological river-lurking, human-eating monster – is as elusive as its namesake. Also known as the Australasian bittern, it is heard more often than it is seen. It means that when bittern expert Geoff Shannon discovered the bird at Tasmania’s recently restored Lagoon of Islands – the first time it had been seen there in 40 years – it was a “very special moment ..read more

Creature with balloon syndrome spotted from passing bus in Gloucestershire is in charity’s care and has been named Bounce A hedgehog that had swollen to the size of a football – so big that it was spotted in a field by a passenger on a passing bus – has been deflated by rescuers. The female hedgehog, which has been named Bounce, had blown up to twice its normal size when it was seen in Gloucestershire ..read more

The best of this week’s wildlife photographs from around the world ..read more

More than 50% of the planet’s species live in the soil, but only a fraction have been identified – so far Read more: No birdsong, no water in the creek, no beating wings: how a haven for nature fell silent The sound of an earthworm is a distinctive rasping and scrunching. Ants sound like the soothing patter of rain. A passing, tunnelling vole makes a noise like a squeaky dog’s toy repeatedly being chewed. On a spring day at Rothamsted Research, an agricultural research institution in Herefordshire, singing skylarks and the M1 motorway are competing for the airways. But the attention here is on ..read more

Exclusive: 80% of Welsh dairy farms inspected, 69% of English ones, 60% in Scotland and 50% in Northern Ireland breaching regulations The majority of UK dairy farms are breaking pollution rules, with vast amounts of cow manure being spilled into rivers. When animal waste enters the river, it causes a buildup of the nutrients found in the effluent, such as nitrates and phosphates. These cause algal blooms, which deplete the waterway of oxygen and block sunlight, choking fish and other aquatic life ..read more

Noreen and Antonia, born last May, are among first cloned offspring of a native endangered species in the North America Two more black-footed ferrets have been successfully cloned in an attempt to save the endangered species, the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) announced. The national agency shared news about the births of ferrets Noreen and Antonia, who were both born last May ..read more

Scientists estimate Vasuki indicus was up to 15m long, weighed a tonne and would have constricted its prey Fossil vertebrae unearthed in a mine in western India are the remains of one of the largest snakes that ever lived, a monster estimated at up to 15 metres in length – longer than a T rex. Scientists have recovered 27 vertebrae from the snake, including a few still in the same position as they would have been when the reptile was alive. They said the snake, which they named Vasuki indicus, would have looked like a large python and would not have been venomous ..read more

Two parrots have formed a unique relationship after arriving at a Tasmanian wildlife sanctuary Get our morning and afternoon news emails, free app or daily news podcast After struggling to bond with members of their own flock, a matte black cockatoo and bright green lorikeet have become unexpected friends. Greg Iron, director of Bonorong wildlife sanctuary in Tasmania, described their relationship as being “love at first sight” for Raphael, a musk lorikeet who was previously kept without a permit ..read more

My lifestyle is so attuned to that of my dogs I sometimes feel our identities are fused One of my dogs, Olive, turned five years old this week and while every minute for her holds unfettered joy, love and promise, the birthday was burnished with a little melancholy for me. Five ..read more