Joshua Styles is on a one-man mission to save our plants

Why Merseyside’s flora and fauna is worth fighting for

Dear members — Every day, ecologists and botanists wage a war against the slow death of biodiversity. Biodiversity is one of those words that induces snoring before a person reaches its final syllable, but it’s crucial — as Oxford University professor David Macdonald told the Guardian, “Without biodiversity, there is no future for humanity”. If you’re not big on nature, insects and animals may seem irrelevant to us, but without them, we’ll struggle to survive. 

Yesterday, Abi headed down to the land lent by Liverpool City Council to local botanist Joshua Styles to produce wildflower-rich grasslands on, and discovered some of the rarest species of bugs in the country.

But first, your Tuesday briefing — including a £12 million plan for cycle lanes in Birkenhead and a police initiative to combat dog attacks in the region.