My four strange but true Bank Holiday stories

With the May Bank holiday a few days away, now is a good time to look back at four of this year’s amazing but true green stories.

Midlands energy expert Ron Fox, of Noreus Ltd on the University of Keele Science Innovation Park (www.noreus.co.uk), picks his favourite recent environmental tales.

1. There are seeds of hope for one of Britain’s most ecologically important trees. Scientists have developed a fast-track method of breeding disease-resistant ash trees, which could transform efforts to restore woodlands ravaged by a deadly fungal disease. The Woodland Trust estimates that the UK could lose up to 80 per cent of the nation’s ash trees from ash dieback, which blocks water movement within the tree and is caused by the fungus Hymenoscyphus fraxineus. The breakthrough centres on adapting a tiny plant embryo, which is removed from the tough outer casing of trees which show a natural resistance to the disease. Researchers at the John Innes Centre in Norwich then placed the embryos on “an agar nutrient jelly”. In nature, ash seeds can take up to six years to germinate, but in the laboratory, the new method reduces that to about a week. This means that gardeners and volunteers could help repopulate the nation’s ash trees. More than 2,000 seedlings have already been produced for trials, seed orchards and planting schemes. Ash (Fraxinus excelsior) is one of Britain’s most ecologically important trees because it supports more than 1,000 species and maintains high biodiversity due to its unique, light-permeable canopy, high-nutrient leaf litter, and rich, alkaline bark that supports specialised lichens.
2. Climate change has been blamed for causing many problems in today’s world. Now a new one has been added to that list – hay fever. Researchers have found that hay fever sufferers suffer for up to two weeks longer than they would have done in the 1990s because of the rising world temperatures. The 2026 Europe report of the Lancet Countdown on health and climate change revealed that the hay fever season, when trees, grasses and weeds release their pollen, now stretches for longer from late March to September. This is because plants have adapted to the warmer weather by flowering earlier. This year has not been helped by the warmest start to April in 80 years, conditions which were particularly favourable for pollen release and dispersal. The report, written by 65 researchers from 46 academic and UN institutions, revealed that between 2015 and 2024, the pollen season arrived between one and two weeks earlier across the continent than between 1991 and 2000. They found that birch and alder trees in particular were emitting more pollen. According to a study by the charity Allergy UK, Britain has some of the highest rates of hay fever in the world, with up to 49 per cent of people suffering some of the symptoms.
3. It is the electric car that has everything for the convenience of its driver and passengers – including its own toilet. A Chinese car maker, Seres, has received a patent for an “in-vehicle toilet system.” They are planning to repeat what the custom-designed 1954 Rolls-Royce Wraith Limousine had more than 70 years ago, with its silver bodywork, black leather-lined cabin, plus a gold-plated lavatory under the back seat. The new patent has the toilet on the passenger side, and includes an on-board waste storage tank, similar to that of a motorhome, which has to be emptied manually. It will also include a pipe to ensure any waste is away from where passengers will sit, and a fan and exhaust system will dispel odours. No prototype has yet been released, and no date announced for when the Chinese convenience car will be built. The Rolls-Royce, with a built-in toilet, was a one-off created for the American inventor Jospeh J Mascuch. It was sold at auction for more than 125,000 Euros (£108,203) at an R M Sotheby’s auction in Milan, Italy, on May 22, 2025.
4. The first UK “green” bridge was opened this month to provide a safe crossing point for wildlife and people. Costing £3.7 million to build, it reconnects two rare heathland areas which are home to the rare nightjars and Dartford warblers, as well as adders, grass snakes, badgers, bats and toads. The 30-metre-wide bridge is the first to support lowland heath habitats, one of Britain’s rarest nature areas. The 68-metre-long Cockcrow Green Bridge spans the A3 in Surrey and connects Ockham Common and Wisley Common near Cobham. It replaces a 1980s pedestrian bridge which provided no thoroughfare for nature. As well as helping wildlife, it also has a path for pedestrians, cyclists and horse riders. Initiated in France in the 1950s and pioneered in the Netherlands in 1990, green bridges are becoming an important part of the sustainability of infrastructure projects. Now there are plans for more green bridges in the UK, with one under construction over the A30 in Cornwall.

This article raises some interesting questions, said Ron. Do you think “green” bridges are a good idea, as some of our readers do? Would you like to see more of them built throughout the UK? How else should we be protecting our wildlife? Send your views to Ron Fox at [email protected]
Ron added: “If you want any green energy advice, call me on 0845 474 6641 or contact us here. In the meantime, have a happy Bank Holiday.”

Caption: Seeds of hope – Scientists have developed a fast-track method of breeding disease-resistant ash trees, which could transform efforts to restore woodlands ravaged by a deadly fungal disease.

Picture: John Butterworth