Providers report rise in demand as companies seek mental health benefits and increased sense of community
In a growing number of workplaces, the soundtrack of the lunch break is no longer the rustle of sandwiches at a desk, but the quiet hum of bees – housed just outside the office window.
Employers from Manchester to Milton Keynes are working with professional beekeepers to install hives on rooftops, in courtyards and car parks – positioning beekeeping not as a novelty but as a way to ease stress, build community and reconnect workers with nature in an era of hybrid work and burnout.
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Breaking Waves: Ocean News
02/08/2026 - 07:34
02/08/2026 - 04:00
Animals, insects, flora and fauna – the world photographed in close-up in the annual competition dedicated to micro and macro photography. Cupoty 7 was won by underwater photographer Ross Gudgeon, triumphing over 12,000 entries from 63 countries
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02/08/2026 - 02:00
Exclusive: Ministers to act after last year’s legislation ‘outwitted’ by failing firms paying millions to executives
The government is to close loopholes which allow bosses of failing water companies to continue to receive large bonuses despite a ban passed last year, it can be revealed.
Bosses of companies that illegally dumped sewage into England’s rivers and seas and presided over water shortages which left thousands of people in misery have still been paid millions in bonuses despite the ban.
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02/08/2026 - 02:00
Grocery delivery firm will begin picking up broken tech across the UK and charging consumers to recycle items
A UK dairy delivery business is to begin collecting unwanted or broken toys, mobile phones and laptops while dropping off milk, orange juice and butter in its latest attempt to expand.
The Modern Milkman was founded by entrepreneur Simon Mellin in Burnley, north-west England, in 2019 and delivers groceries to more than 100,000 households across the UK.
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02/08/2026 - 00:05
Pumas returning to Patagonia have begun hunting mainland penguins that evolved without land predators. Scientists estimate that more than 7,000 adult penguins were killed in just four years, many of them left uneaten. While the losses are dramatic, models show that pumas alone are unlikely to wipe out the colony. Greater dangers come from poor breeding and low survival among young penguins.
02/07/2026 - 14:00
One expert says 2027 could be even hotter than the last three years, which have been the top three warmest on record
Sign up for climate and environment editor Adam Morton’s free Clear Air newsletter here
Weather agencies and climate scientists have pointed to the possibility of an El Niño forming in the Pacific Ocean later this year – a phenomenon that could push global temperatures to all-time record highs in 2027.
Both the US government’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology have said some climate models are forecasting an El Niño but both cautioned those results came with uncertainties.
Experts told the Guardian it was too early to be confident, but there were signals in the spread of sea surface temperatures in the Pacific that suggested an El Niño could form in 2026.
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02/07/2026 - 08:00
Move will hit Michigan, Illinois, New York and other states with highest levels of lead drinking water pipes the hardest
There is outrage among some politicians and activists after the US Congress voted to slash $125m for replacing toxic lead drinking water pipes that are particularly a threat to children.
The move will hit Michigan, Illinois, Texas, New York and other states with the highest levels of lead pipes the hardest. The cut was part of a broader government funding bill and particularly controversial in the context of the fight over Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) funding.
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02/07/2026 - 07:00
Mergers and acquisitions will shrink number of operators from more than 100 to five or six, says Be.EV co-founder
British electric charger companies are asking rivals to buy them as they run out of cash amid rising costs and intense competition, according to industry bosses.
A wave of mergers and acquisitions is likely to shrink the number of charge point operators from as many as 150 to a market dominated by five or six players, said Asif Ghafoor, a co-founder of Be.EV, a charging company backed by Octopus Energy.
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02/07/2026 - 02:00
Prices paid for large estates not being disclosed on official register, land reform advocates say
Land reform campaigners are alarmed at the increasing use of a legal loophole that allows landowners to conceal the price paid for Highland estates from the public register.
Andy Wightman, a land reform analyst, said the loophole meant the prices paid in more than £300m-worth of Highland property transactions were not disclosed on the register.
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02/07/2026 - 01:00
Special pods at Chester zoo helped conservationists breed and release more than 100,000 greater Bermuda snails
A button-sized snail once feared extinct in its Bermudian home is thriving again after conservationists bred and released more than 100,000 of the molluscs.
The greater Bermuda snail (Poecilozonites bermudensis) was found in the fossil record but believed to have vanished from the North Atlantic archipelago, until a remnant population was discovered in a damp and overgrown alleyway in Hamilton, the island capital, in 2014.
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