Independent crossbencher Lord Krebs told the House of Lords that culling badgers had a “modest effect” in reducing the incidence of TB, and thus “rolling out culling as a national policy to control TB in cattle is not really credible.”

A recycling firm owner who illegally dumped waste in a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) has been given a three-month suspended sentence.

David John Neal, 52, of Rumney, Cardiff, was fined £10,000 and his two firms face fines and costs of £202,000 after pleading guilty to the breaches at Ty-To Maen Farm on the Gwent Levels.

Wildlife projects in Wales are to receive £1.5m to help protect habitats and species.

The Welsh government’s Natural Resources Minister Alun Davies said the money would be used to strengthen the environment against climate change.

Natural Resources Wales and the Wales Biodiversity Partnership will run the programme.

The Resilient Ecosystems Fund follows the State of Nature report, which highlighted the risk to UK wildlife.

People are being warned to keep off a popular lake after a farm vehicle overturned, spilling 400 litres of a chemical into a nearby drainage ditch.

Tests are being carried out on the water at Llangorse Lake near Brecon after the incident involving diluted herbicide.

Public Health Wales said people should stay off the lake as a precaution until the test results were known.

Llangorse Lake is a popular location for water sports and with anglers.

Neonicotinoid chemicals in pesticides are believed to harm bees and the European Commission says they should be restricted to crops not attractive to bees and other pollinators.

A beach has been closed after a tank on a farm in Ceredigion burst, leaking 15,000 litres of slurry.

The slurry found its way into a small stream leading to the sea at South Beach in New Quay which has been cordoned off.

Fishermen on the River Towy in west Wales are being urged to join the battle against an invasive plant growing along riverbanks.

Experts say the Himalayan Balsam plant swamps native species.

Some of Wales’s most threatened birds are continuing to decline, according to the charity RSPB.

More than 30,000 people across Wales helped gather sightings of bird species for the charity in January.

The results show some of the most threatened “red-list” birds are continuing to drop in numbers.

Starlings had hit an all time low in 2012 – and that position worsened in 2013, with numbers dropping by 15%.

An investigation into the deaths of hundreds of toads along the Millennium Coastal Park in Carmarthenshire has been traced to a family of otters.

Environment Agency officials were called in after body parts of toads were found around ponds in the park which runs from Llanelli to Burry Port.

Wildlife experts have ruled out poisoning, the weather and water temperature, instead blaming otters.