The Wildlife Trusts and Northumberland Wildlife Trust aim to purchase the Rothbury Estate, a 15-square-mile tract of former grouse moor, woodland, farmland, streams, and rivers, with plans to boost wildlife, restore bogs, and champion nature-friendly farming.

The historic estate is the largest area of land to be put on sale in England in decades, and sits in the heart of what nature experts said could be a 40-mile ‘wild’ corridor of protected landscapes, nature reserves and wildlife-focused estates stretching from the coast to Kielder and the Scottish border.

Simonside, Rothbury (Image: Duncan Hutt)

Northumberland Wildlife Trust chief executive Mike Pratt has described the purchase as a ‘once-in-a-lifetime opportunity’ to make a meaningful impact for nature on a large scale through habitat restoration and protection, rewilding, increased access to the countryside, and sustainable food production.

Sir David Attenborough has also lent his support to the public appeal, which had raised more than £10 million towards its £30 million target as of early 2026.

Plans prompted fresh debate after a new Fieldsports Britain video questioned whether the land needs ‘saving’ at all.

More: Attenborough-backed appeal to buy historic Northumberland estate hits £10m

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The film, titled “Rothbury rewilding scandal?”, examined proposals by The Wildlife Trusts to manage the estate in what they describe as a national flagship for nature recovery.

Supporters claimed the vision could see enhanced peatland restoration, improved water management, carbon sequestration and long-term biodiversity gains across the Simonside Hills and surrounding uplands.

Critics, however, argued the estate already supports significant wildlife under its current and recent management, and warn that large-scale rewilding or predator reintroductions could damage existing species, particularly ground-nesting birds.

The debate comes at a time when large-scale landscape recovery projects are expanding across the UK, often attracting both strong public support and strong opposition.

The Fieldsports Britain video explored both sides of the debate and asked what the future of Rothbury should look like and who should decide.

Among those who raised concerns in the video was countryside writer Ian Coghill, who argued that conservation efforts should focus on ‘bottom up’ ecology, including plants, invertebrates and habitat management, rather than high-profile species reintroductions.

Caudhole Moss, Simonside in the estate (Image: Duncan Hutt)

He questioned the long-term funding model for the estate and called for full baseline data on existing wildlife to be published before major changes are made.

“The most important people are the ones that live and work there,” he said in the programme, referring to tenant farmers and local communities.

The Wildlife Trusts have responded, outlining their approach and commitment to scientific monitoring.

In a statement, they said: “In October 2024, The Wildlife Trusts – in partnership with Northumberland Wildlife Trust – purchased part of The Rothbury Estate, which includes the much-loved Simonside Hills.

“Surveys and monitoring of the upland area that we’ve acquired are being undertaken to work out the best form of management to benefit wildlife, peatlands, water management and sequester carbon.

“As well as baseline surveys on every aspect of species and habitats, archaeology and geology surveys are also being undertaken, forming the basis of a long-term data bank used to inform all aspects of site management.

“This is added to by the close involvement of those who know, manage and farm the estate already, or who have in the past, as well as evaluation of existing data. We are also working closely with Newcastle University Centre for Landscape to ensure the very highest level of data collection and most up to date technology and techniques are applied across all disciplines into the future.

“We see this scientific survey and monitoring as a key facet of Rothbury being seen as a national exemplar of farming and nature recovery. We also intend to involve local communities in citizen science data gathering. The evaluation of impact of all we aim to achieve is central to our approach.

“Whilst fundraising for the purchase of the remainder of the estate, we have been speaking to the local community and are keen to work closely with tenants, including farm tenants, to develop a long-term strategy for the estate. This long-term strategy will aim to create a place where people and nature can thrive side by side.”

Israeli officials are claiming Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s body has been found

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said there are growing signs that Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has died.

The Israeli Premier said that there was growing evidence the man he called “the dictator” had been killed in the US Israeli airstrikes carried out on Saturday and for which Iran retaliated with strikes across the region.

Other Israeli officials have claimed that the Iranian Supreme Leader’s body had been found. Other sources are said to have claimed that Israel’s ambassador had told the US that Khamenei was killed in the strike on his compound in the Iranian capital Tehran.

Israel’s media is widely reporting that Israeli officials are claiming that Khamenei is dead.

BBC Verity previously shared satellite images which it said showed significant damage to the property where Khamenei’s offices were based. It said the image, captured by Airbus, showed smoke rising from blackened buildings strewn with debris.

Iran’s leader has not spoken since the attacks although a senior member of the regime, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, previously said he believed he was alive and well.

Speaking earlier on Saturday, Araghchi said that the US Israeli strikes may have killed “one or two commanders” but he said that Khamenei, is “alive” as far as he is aware.

The BBC’s Persian service said that people in Tehran were celebrating, cheering the leader’s death by honking horns, screaming in celebration.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has led Iran since 1989 as head of state and commander in chief with authority over the national police, morality police and the feared Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), which is in charge of internal security, and its volunteer wing, the Basij Resistance Force.

“That is in itself, for me, therapeutic because I’m putting it all out there”

Online sensation Serena Terry, aka Mammy Banter, is putting a difficult year behind her as she heads out on her biggest stand-up tour to date.

In 2024, the Derry woman was on a roll, becoming the first ever female comedian to sell out Belfast’s SSE Arena, millions of adoring fans on social media and two books under her belt.

However, last year she found herself facing some difficult battles, including the death of her father, and wants to show the world the reality behind the TikToks in her new show.

READ MORE: Mammy Banter creator Serena Terry on her upcoming ‘biggest tour to date’READ MORE: Mammy Banter Serena Terry announces SSE Arena Belfast show as part of ‘biggest tour to date’

Speaking to Belfast Live, Serena said her new tour ‘Therapy’ shows audiences that it’s ok if you don’t know what you’re doing and that sometimes we have to “just laugh about it and have a bit of craic”.

A description of the show reads: “Over the last 6 months, Serena has tried and tested 22 different types of therapy in a bid to improve her physical and mental health and calm the chaos that comes with being a busy mum on the cusp of turning 40, resulting in some diverse, embarrassing and hilarious outcomes.

“She’ll take you through her journey of self improvement. Park your worries at the door and strap in for a night of honest hilarity that’ll leave tears of laughter streaming down your face, providing a little bit of your own therapy in return.”

Returning to the SSE Arena stage on May 16, Serena is also performing three hometown gigs at Derry’s Millennium Forum on April 24, 25 and May 9.

She said: “It is essentially a recap of my 2025 where life threw a few curveballs, including depression, ADHD, divorce, my dad died and a few other things in between, whilst being a parent and going through perimenopause.

“It does not sound funny on paper, but it really is about talking through the quiet parts out loud and hoping that people recognise themselves in the chaos.”

With 2.5million followers and over 80million likes on TikTok, she is no stranger to making people laugh through their phones.

However, she described transforming likes and comments on her video to real in-person laughter while performing stand-up as “surreal”.

“I don’t think it even feels real to me anymore – it just kind of meshed the transition from online and doing everything behind my phone never felt like it was the actual real people who were commenting or engaging with my content,” Serena explained.

“So whenever you go out and go on stage to be actually in the place where people are and see their faces and see their reactions in real time, do your jokes, it’s incredible – it’s really, really addictive.”

While her two children are slightly too young just yet to be able to enjoy her stand-up content, she said being able to take her daughter behind the scene of her previous SSE Arena show as the “proudest day of [her] life”.

She added: “I will never, ever forget that as long as I live.”

As for stepping into the world of stand-up after years of creating skits, Serena said it pushes her to new levels which has meant to much to her while facing the darker times.

“It’s such a raw nature that you’re exposed to – you’re live, if you make a mistake, it’s not like online, you can’t just edit your video or hit stop. You’re there and you have to be vulnerable.

“But that is in itself, for me, therapeutic because I’m putting it all out there.

“I’m putting it all out on the line and when people laugh and appreciate it and relate to it, it makes me feel like I’m normal as well.”

Serena said that she hopes people “recognise themselves” in her stories on tour and leave knowing they can relate to someone, while also doubled over in laughter.

She concluded: “I want them to recognise themselves in those little life instances and traumas and curveballs and plot twists and understand that they are normal and how they survive it.

“A lot of us, we do struggle alone with things so if I can bring that out and have people relate and be able to laugh at the absurdity of how relaable it is and how actually we’re not alone, we’re all going through the same thing, then that to me means that people feel that they belong and they are doing better than they are.

“That’s what it’s about.”

You can find out more and get tickets to her tour shows here

VIDEO BY JUSTIN KERNOGHAN

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Groups descended on York and Knaresborough to perform a series of dances, featuring traditional English folk music and costume.

Crowds were seen gathering in Parliament Street and St Sampson’s Square in York, and at Knaresborough Castle this afternoon (Saturday, February 28).

Recommended reading:

Morris dancing first appeared in England in the 15th century, with its earliest surviving mention dating back to 1448.

The dance, featuring dancers dressed in vibrant costume with bell pads tied to each leg, has captured the hearts of people across the world.

An array of colour – the groups were adorned in a variety of costumes (Image: Lisa Young – Press Camera Club)

Styles include Border Morris, Clog Step, Cotswold Morris, Longsword, Maypole, Molly, Mumming, North West Morris, Rapper Sword and Stave Dancing.

Dancers move to the rhythm of flutes and other instruments, with each movement heard by the sound of the bell pads attached to their shins.

Sticks, swords, handkerchiefs and other props can also be used in each dance.

The crowds gathered in Parliament Street and St Sampson’s Square today (Image: Lisa Young – Press Camera Club)

In York, women from group Mortimer’s Morris in Nottingham played for audiences.

The all-women’s dance group was established 32 years ago and performed dances from the North West tradition to curious passers-by.

The Smokehouse arrived to Cardiff on February 27 and will stay until the end of the weekend, giving people a taste of their award winning smokehouse BBQ

People in Cardiff are being given the chance to try award-winning meat brisket this weekend as Meat and Eat Smokehouse has come into the city with a special food trailer pop-up.

The smokehouse trailer will be set up at Hire Me Rentals at 293 Penarth Road, on Saturday, February 28, and Sunda, March 1. Opening times for the pop-up are listed as 12pm until late on both days.

Meat and Eat was originally founded in Wolverhampton and has built a reputation for its smoky, slow-cooked meats. This year it has been travelling to different cities across the UK with weekend food truck appearances.

Cardiff is the latest stop on the tour, where they have been making an appearance from Friday, February 27 until Sunday, March 1.

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The weekend pop-up is expected to attract food lovers from across the city, the smokehouse’s Tiktok page showed large queues last night (February 27) of people waiting out in the rain for the a chance to buy the food.

The smokehouse business was started by brothers, Kasim Azim, Daud Azim and Abdulraheem Azim, in 2017. Since then, they have seen their humble business beginning turn into a popular and well loved food spot, gaining over 160k followers on Instagram and a strong social media presence on Facebook and Youtube.

Speaking about the journey, Kasim said: “It took us nine years. The first five years were a struggle. We had to put in the work, the passion, and the patience, and now it’s built our brand. We just carried it on, carried it on, carried it on.”

The team started with a restaurant in Wolverhampton in 2017 and has since expanded to a food trailer in Birmingham and a touring food truck, bringing their barbecue to cities across the UK.

The Cardiff pop-up is part of that ongoing tour. Since 2025, the Meat and Eat smokehouse has been visiting cities across the UK to give them a taste of their award winning meals. For the last six to seven months the smokehouse has been touring around many different cities every weekend.

Kasim explained their mission: “Cardiff probably hasn’t had this before. We want to make it readily available for whoever wants to have it. All ages. There’s no discrimination. A lot of smokehouses only attract a specific group, but we’ve made ours for everyone.”

The brothers pride themselves on making barbecue an inclusive experience. “With food, it’s like a love language. It ignites everybody. People from different backgrounds, ages, and genders come, and they enjoy it. We want everyone to have a taste.”

Kasim spoke enthusiastically on the importance of his business and his dedication to want people to try what Meat and Eat has to offer, “you cant come to us, we will come to you”, he says.

Speaking on his passion towards his smokehouse business, Kasim says: “We will be going to Texas next. That’s how serious we are. We’ll be going there for 10 days for more inspiration, for more research, and possibly get trained, so that’s the passion we give to this”

Last year, the smokehouse was invited to the Manchester Fume Festival to compete against world-class pit masters and chefs. That is where they were given the ‘Best Dish Award’ for their signature pulled-brisket samosa that was a fusion between American and South Asian flavours. Speaking on the award, Kasim said: “We did not expect to win, but once they had that samosa with the sauce, it was all over.”

Their approach has already taken them to around 16 cities, and each stop is chosen to ensure the food reaches new audiences.

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Si King says “not a day goes by” where fellow Hairy Biker Dave Myers is not in his thoughts, marking the anniversary of his death on Saturday (February 28).

The TV chef, who hails from Kibblesworth, rose to fame with Myers after meeting on the set of the drama “The Gambling Man” in 1995 and bonding over their love of cooking.

Hairy Bikers Si King and Dave Myers. (Image: Steve Lake/BBC/PA)

The friends then went on to publish several cookbooks, as well as presenting several shows, such as The Hairy Bikers Ride Again, The Hairy Bikers’ Food Tour Of Britain, The Hairy Bikers: Mums Know Best, The Hairy Bikers’ Cook Off and Hairy Bikers’ Best Of British.

But tragically, Myers passed away from cancer on February 28, 2024, aged just 66.

Marking the anniversary, King recorded and posted a short, emotional video which faded into a black and white photo of the friends.

“Well mate, it’s two years since you passed and I think about you every day,” he said.

King then went on to share a number of pictures of himself and his beloved co-star, inviting fans to do the same.

He wrote: “Sometimes words just don’t come easily. Two years today and not a day goes by when you aren’t in my thoughts.

“Miss you mate… I’m going to be posting some of my favourite pictures throughout the day and I hope they make you smile.

Si King and Dave Myers. (Image: BBC)

“Please take a moment to remember Dave today and what he meant to you.

“I see so many lovely comments on here of all of the special moments that he shared with so many of you and just how much those moments meant for you.

“Thank you so much sharing them with me everyone.”

Speaking to Radio Times in January 2025, Si opened up about the difficult loss of his “brother” Dave, who died after being diagnosed with cancer in 2024.

The 59-year-old told the publisher: “He doesn’t stop being your best mate just because he’s passed away. That’s never going to go. We were like brothers: we drove each other mad, because we were two very different people, but we absolutely adored each other.”

Si, who now runs popular foodie spot Propa in Sunderland, added that “nobody’s ever going to take Dave’s place”.

He explained: “I don’t want to look in the rear-view mirror of my motorcycle and see anyone else there. It’s Dave, you know? And the same when he was leading: I drove hundreds of miles looking at his ugly a**. That’s my memory, that’s what I want to keep. That’s what it was about.”

Si recalled how he travelled around 650,000 miles with Dave on their motorbikes, which is “more than to the moon and back” and that the only way he can begin to move forward is by “cherishing the memories”.

Former Hearts player Ryan Stevenson was on punditry duty as part of BBC Radio Scotland’s Sportsound commentary and echoed Braga and McInnes’ sentiments.

“The atmosphere is unbelievable,” he said. “What you would give to be a player on that pitch just now,” he said.

And, afterwards, he proclaimed: “I think Hearts will win the league. I genuinely do.

“I cannot see Hearts buckling. I cannot see Hearts losing three or four games.

“I just can’t see Hearts losing the title now.”

Rangers are second, two points above Celtic, who have a game in hand. Those two teams meet at Ibrox on Sunday so, one way or another, Hearts’ seven-point advantage will be reduced by weekends’ end.

And Celtic travel to Aberdeen on Wednesday to play their game in hand.

Studio pundit, former Hearts player Michael Stewart, is similarly minded to Stevenson.

“I do think with every game that’s ticked off, there’s an extra level of pressure but equally I think there’s an extra level of belief. They almost counter each other.

“They’re the ones that are sitting there top of the table and deservedly so.”

Drivers are anticipating hiked petrol prices following the eruption of conflict in the Middle East after the US and Israel carried out strikes across lran.

The attacks, along with retaliatory strikes by Iranian forces have seen targets in the UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, Jordan and Iraq hit, have prompted several oil companies to suspend the shipments of crude oil through the Strait of Hormuz.

Edmund King, president of the AA, has now warned that the bombing across the Middle East will cause significant disruption to the oil trade.

Follow live updates here.

“The turmoil and bombing across the Middle East will surely be a catalyst to disrupt oil distribution globally, which will inevitably lead to price hikes,” Mr King told The Times.

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“So drivers beware, within the next 10 to 12 days we could be seeing record prices at the pumps.”

Oil prices are expected to surge when the New York Futures market opens at 11pm on Sunday, with crucial shipping lanes affected by the joint US-Israeli assault, which Iranian media reports has killed at least 201 people so far.

Several oil companies and tanker owners have suspended crude oil, fuel and liquefied natural gas shipments via the Strait of Hormuz following the eruption of conflict in the region, trading sources earlier told Reuters news agency.

The strait is the world’s most vital oil export route, which connects the biggest Gulf oil producers, such as Saudia Arabia, Iran, Iraq, and the United Arab Emirates, with the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea.

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“Our ships will stay put for several days,” one top executive at a major trading desk said. Satellite images from tanker trackers showed vessels piling up next to big ports, such as Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates, and not moving through Hormuz.

Multiple vessels in the area have received VHF transmission from Iran’s Revolutionary Guards that “no ship is allowed to pass the Strait of Hormuz”, an official with the EU naval mission Aspides told Reuters.

The UK Navy said Iran’s orders were not legally binding and advised vessels to transit with caution.

An official from the European Union’s naval mission Aspides had earlier said that Iran’s Revolutionary Guards were warning that “no ship is allowed to pass the Strait of Hormuz”.

Iran has not formally confirmed any such order. About 20 per cent of global oil and gas flows through this narrow shipping lane in the Gulf, and blocking it could have serious consequences for the global economy.

LAREDO, Texas (AP) — A month after ICE agents sent the young Ecuadorian mother and her 7-year-old daughter to a sprawling detention center 1,300 miles from their Minnesota home, they were finally free.

But when the bus pulled up to a migrant shelter in the border city of Laredo, dropping off a half-dozen families lugging bags stuffed with belongings, the stress of recent weeks tracked mother and daughter like the long shadows on that mid-February afternoon.

Night after night inside south Texas’ Dilley Immigration Processing Center with hundreds of other families, the grade-schooler wept and pleaded to know why they were being held.

“She would tell me, ‘Mom, what crime did I commit to be a prisoner?’ I didn’t know what to tell her,” said the 29-year-old, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear being identified could negatively affect their immigration case. Her husband was deported to Ecuador soon after they were taken into custody.

Many Americans were alarmed last month when photos circulated showing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in Minneapolis detaining a 5-year-old boy wearing a bunny hat and carrying a Spiderman backpack. The concern followed Liam Conejo Ramos and his father when they were sent to Dilley, surrounded by chain-link fences on a dusty plain about 75 miles south of San Antonio.

But Liam was hardly an outlier. ICE has been holding hundreds of children at Dilley — many for months.

“We are all Liam,” Christian Hinojosa, an immigrant from Mexico, said by phone from Dilley, where she and her 13-year-old son were held for more than four months. They were released this month and allowed to return home to San Antonio where she works as a health aide.

She noted that Liam and his father were released from Dilley after 10 days, when members of Congress and a judge intervened.

“My son says, ‘That’s unfair, Mama. What’s the difference between him and us?’”

Ramping up family detentions

When the Obama administration opened Dilley in 2014, nearly all families detained there had recently crossed the border from Mexico. Detentions at the facility were scaled back by the Biden administration in 2021, before it was closed three years later.

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EDITOR’S NOTE — This story includes discussion of suicide. If you or someone you know needs help, the national suicide and crisis lifeline in the U.S. is available by calling or texting 988.

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Since being reopened by President Donald Trump’s administration last spring, life inside Dilley — a compound of trailers and other prefabricated buildings — has been shaped by three decisive changes.

The number of detained families has risen sharply since last fall. The government is holding many children well beyond the 20-day limit set by longstanding court order. And many detainees have lived in the U.S. for several years, with roots in neighborhoods, workplaces and schools, according to lawyers and other observers.

“Just imagine that you’re a child and you’re taken out of your surroundings,” said Philip Schrag, a Georgetown University law professor and author of “Baby Jails: The Fight to End the Incarceration of Refugee Children in America.”

Suddenly you’re in “a completely strange environment with the doors locked and guards in uniform roaming around,” said Schrag, who counseled Dilley detainees as a volunteer lawyer during the Obama administration.

ICE booked more than 3,800 children into detention during the first nine months of the new Trump administration, according to an Associated Press analysis of data from the University of California, Berkeley’s Deportation Data Project. On an average day more than 220 children were held, with most of those detained longer than 24 hours sent to Dilley. More than half of Dilley detainees during that period were children.

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Kids cry often and don’t get enough sleep, in part because lights are on around the clock, she said. The water tastes terrible and causes stomachaches and rashes, so some families stick to what they can buy in the commissary.

Their children don’t eat enough and have lost weight, Welch said. There are classrooms, but instruction is limited to an hour daily, mostly filling out worksheets.

A 14-year-old girl, identified in court papers by the initials NVSM, reported there were tensions with up to 12 people sharing their room. At night when she and her mother tried to sleep, others insisted on turning up the TV.

“I feel very sad and stressed to be here,” the teen said in an account filed with the court that oversees a binding settlement governing detention and release of children. “My nerves are so high. I don’t know what is happening. My muscles will twitch because I’m so nervous and on edge.”

Concerns about oversight

As the government’s detention of parents and their children came under scrutiny in 2014, an ICE official insisted that family detention centers, equipped with basketball courts and medical clinics, were “more like a summer camp.”

The characterization irritated McPherson, the child psychiatrist who, along with another physician, was retained in 2014 by DHS to inspect family detention centers. Their contracts were not renewed by the Trump administration last year after DHS announced sweeping staff reductions.

“Having a clean place to sleep, having food, that’s not the same thing as having family and community,” McPherson said.

The doctors’ investigations of family detention centers exposed consistently inadequate staffing and disregard by administrators for the trauma caused by detention, concerns they reported in 2018 to a Senate caucus set up to hear from whistleblowers.

At Dilley, the doctors noted a persistent shortage of pediatricians and the inability to hire a child psychiatrist from the time they began their inspections until they alerted senators.

Employees unsure how to deal with 2-year-olds biting and hitting each other placed the children and their parents in medical isolation for days, McPherson and her colleague told senators. Without supervision, a nurse at Dilley gave adult-strength hepatitis A shots to about 250 children in 2015, the American Immigration Lawyers Association reported.

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Contact AP’s global investigative team at [email protected] or https://www.ap.org/tips/

Vicky Pattison has told followers that she is not able to leave Dubai after a series of Iranian missiles were shot down over the country, closing the airspace.

The city in the UAE has been heavily affected by the ongoing airstrikes from Iran targeting sites across Bahrain, Abu Dhabi, Iraq and Israel in response to the USA starting ‘major combat operations’ to destroy Iran’s uranium enrichment facilities.

Earlier today, the UAE General Civil Aviation Authority announced that the country’s airspace had been temporarily closed as the situation escalated, including debris falling on Dubai’s iconic Palm Jumeirah.

Bangs have been heard across the city from missiles being intercepted by the air defence systems.

The UK Foreign Office has also advised against travel to the Middle East.

Pattison, who was holidaying with her husband Ercan Ramadan, shared an update with followers explaining that her flight to Sydney was no longer going ahead.

She explained that her ‘flight was cancelled and now we’re effectively stuck in Dubai’ and confirmed that they were ‘ok’.

She continued: ‘We are currently in our hotel and have been assured were safe.

‘We are aware that the situation unfolding is scary and I’m also aware that there’s a lot of videos circulating on social media which are understandably concerning.

‘I’m not sure what else to say, other than we’re doing our best to stay calm, not feed any unconfirmed narratives and we’re thinking of everyone who is feeling unsettled and unsafe right now.’

Earlier today, Katie Price’s husband Lee Andrews, who stayed behind in Dubai when the reality star returned to the UK, also shared a government update confirming that ‘the security situation in the UAE remains stable’.

Meanwhile, Love Island star Laura Anderson also issued an update.

‘Horrendous situation, Bonnie and I are fine,’ she said of her and her daughter.

The five-star £245 million ($330 million) Palm Jumeirah Fairmont was engulfed in flames with emergency serives seena round the 14-storey building.

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