Chamonixia caespitosa found during rewilding project in west Highlands while removing non-native Sitka spruce

Naturalists have found a very rare type of truffle living in a Scottish forestry plantation which is being cut down so a natural Atlantic rainforest can grow in its place.

The discovery of the globally rare fungus near Creagan in the west Highlands has thrown up a paradox: the work to remove the non-native Sitka spruce, to allow rewilding by native trees, means the truffle will be lost.

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Farmers lay carcasses in front of government building in Lausanne to press for resumption of wolf cull

Farmers in Switzerland dumped the carcasses of sheep that were killed by wolves in front of a regional government building on Saturday as part of a protest to demand more action against the predators.

About a dozen breeders came from the Saint-Barthélemy area in the western Swiss canton of Vaud to lay 12 carcasses in front of Lausanne’s Chateau Saint-Maire, the regional government headquarters, AFP reported.

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Lower Pertwood in Wiltshire aims to restore declining plants, insects and endangered species

The rolling hills south of Salisbury Plain are a bleak scene of vast arable fields and tightly grazed pasture dotted with scores of sheep.

In recent decades, Lower Pertwood farm has embraced organic growing, producing oats, barley and other crops, while boosting numbers of rare corn buntings and other wildlife with wildflower banks and newly planted trees.

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Experts say the hybrids risk ‘polluting’ the genetic stock, but scientists disagree on how to deal with them. In Piedmont, Italy, the sight of a blond wolfdog signals the risk of another new litter

• Photographs by Alberto Olivero

From the moment the rangers first saw him on their trail cameras, the problem was apparent. The wolf, spotted deep in the woods of Italy’s Gran Bosco di Salbertrand park, was not grey like his companion, but an unusual blond. His colouring indicated this was not a wolf at all, but a hybrid wolfdog – the first to be seen so far into Piedmont’s alpine region. And where one hybrid is found, more are sure to follow.

“We thought he would go away,” says Elisa Ramassa, a park ranger in Gran Bosco who has tracked the local wolves for 25 years. “Unfortunately, he found a female who loves blonds.”

Elisa Ramassa and fellow ranger Massimo Rosso search for wolf tracks in Gran Bosco di Salbertrand park

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Established 24 years ago, the Carrifran Wildwood has been credited with inspiring the current surge of rewilding projects across the UK and beyond

About 6,000 years ago, most of southern Scotland was covered by broadleaf woodland, interspersed with patches of rich scrub, heath and bog. In stark contrast, the landscape today is dominated by close-cropped, severely nature-depleted hills, punctuated by sharp-edged blocks of non-native spruce plantation.

Now, thanks to the Carrifran Wildwood , one of the UK’s first community-led rewilding projects, patches of habitat resembling Scotland’s primeval forest are staging a comeback.

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Former sheep farmer Derek Gow is on a mission to rewild Britain. Having switched sides from team sheep, he wants to reintroduce its mortal enemy…

Across the River Wolf and along several miles of muddy Devon lanes lies Derek Gow’s lair. Inside a crepuscular barn filled with a pungent aroma, an imposing, bearded Scot sits surrounded by his collection of animal skulls, stuffed beavers, taxidermied badgers and birds of prey. A distinctive stench wafts from the head of an ibex mounted on the wall. The barn is badged as an education centre but it would terrify some visitors.

This gothic scene reaches its climax when – bang! – a shot is fired nearby. Gow looks relaxed. “She’s not shooting anything,” he says of his neighbouring farmer. “It’s a gas gun, trying to scare a bunch of complacent geese.”

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We are raiding the Guardian Long Read archives to bring you some classic pieces from years past, with new introductions from the authors.

From 2020: A handful of radical nature lovers are secretly breeding endangered species and releasing them into the wild. Many are prepared to break the law and risk the fury of the scientific establishment to save the animals they love. By Patrick Barkham

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Volunteers and fiddle group help launch three-year project to create wildflower meadow across Cornwall

It was, all agreed, a heartwarming scene: dozens of smiling children and adults scattering wildflower seed on a Cornish country house estate in the autumn sunshine accompanied by the sound of fiddles.

But there was a serious point to it, too. The event at Lanhydrock, a grand house and estate above the River Fowey, was organised to mark the launch of a three-year project to create 324 hectares (800 acres) of wildflower meadow across Cornwall, part of a fightback against the UK-wide loss of this species-rich habitat.

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