This England: The mane attraction

This column – which, though named after a line in Shakespeare’s “Richard II”, refers to the whole of Britain – has run in the NS since 1934.

By New Statesman

Discarded horsehair from the King’s private residence has been turned into a sustainable dress.

Fashion design duo and climate activists Vin + Omi created the garment by incorporating nettles and horsehair sourced directly from the King’s Highgrove estate in Gloucestershire.

The dress will go on display at the National Museum of Scotland.

The award-winning eco-designers told the Telegraph that the King is so effective at recycling they initially had limited options to work with.
The Telegraph
(Richard Fearn)

Here comes speed racer

The owner of a runaway tortoise is tightening up security after her 60-year-old pet reached the other end of a busy Borders town. Cathryn Scott is still unsure how Tommy crossed three busy roads, a town centre and a footbridge to end up about a mile away from home. Cathryn said: “We are reinforcing his pen by building up the wire netting.” During his great escape, Tommy reached the other side of Selkirk.
BBC News
(Steve Morley)

The lives of otters

In a video posted on Twitter by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, the otters in the River Wye looked happy, frolicking in the water. The problem for Environment Secretary Thérèse Coffey is that these otters don’t live in the River Wye.

The video, featuring Coffey promising a clean-up of the river, included footage of sea otters purportedly on the Wye. Sea otters live thousands of miles away in the North Pacific.
The Times
(Amanda Welles)