24 October 2026

A water bird hunts for food beneath a waterfall

A small grey bird working the mossy rocks dived into the current in search of prey.

Owen Pryce24 Oct

Wrenhaven Film Week brings free open-air screenings to the quayside

Alongside its usual programme in the Asher Arts Centre cinema, this year's Film Week is putting up a giant screen on the Harbourside quay for six free evening shows.

Chloé Martin24 Oct

Environment

All nine Wrenhaven beaches pass bathing-water tests for a third year running

Every beach in the city has met national bathing-water standards again, with six rated excellent, after sewer overflow upgrades cut the number of spills into Greyling Bay by more than half.

Daniel Osei24 Oct

Technology

Solar panels raised above crops: first results from an Asher Valley trial

A two-hectare trial near Bramley Cross that grows vegetables and soft fruit beneath raised solar panels has produced its first full season of data, with some crops doing better in partial shade.

Samuel Adeyemi24 Oct

Busy bees among purple blooms

Bumblebees landing on asters in the autumn sun gathered nectar from flower to flower.

Grace Mwangi24 Oct

Health

Regular pulse eaters tend to have more varied diets, Wrenhaven study finds

Researchers at the University of Wrenhaven found that people who ate beans, lentils or chickpeas several times a week reported a wider range of foods overall, though the study cannot show cause and effect.

Viktor Lind24 Oct

Basketball & Rugby

Streetball league tips off with 160 teams as Gulls players coach youth sides

The city's 3x3 basketball league has more than doubled in size, with games on outdoor courts in five parks and professional players from the Wrenhaven Gulls helping out on the sidelines.

Callum Reid24 Oct

Wrenhaven twin town Velde now runs entirely on community-owned solar power

Velde, the small inland town twinned with Wrenhaven, now produces as much electricity as it uses over a year from a solar park owned by its own residents through an energy cooperative.

Rafael Ortega24 Oct

Markets and street food: a riot of colour on the stalls

From spices to fresh vegetables, scenes from markets around the world.

Daniel Osei24 Oct

Football

The stands should teach belonging, not rage

What a child learns on their first trip to the stadium says more about football's future than any scoreline.

Tomás Herrera24 Oct

Old Quay Jazz Weekend returns with 40 free gigs in pubs, cafés and on harbour boats

The festival is back after a year's break, with a pared-back budget, a focus on local musicians and a floating stage on a former ferry.

Viktor Lind24 Oct

Technology

University switches on new supercomputer for local weather forecasts

The machine can model the weather over the Wrenhaven coast in squares just 500 metres across, which forecasters say should improve warnings of flash floods and coastal gales.

Aisha Rahman24 Oct

Business

Asher Valley grain growers lock in prices with millers through three-year contracts

A shared online platform run by the growers' cooperative has matched more than 80 farms with regional mills on fixed-price deals, offering both sides shelter from swings in the commodity market.

Elena Sokolova24 Oct

Saltings Pottery Guild pairs young makers with master potters

Twelve young makers will spend nine months at the wheel beside experienced potters in the marsh villages, in a scheme the guild hopes will keep its craft alive for another generation.

Isabel Duarte24 Oct

City Life

Asher Valley wheat harvest beats five-year average despite a wet spring

Farmers in the Asher Valley have brought in a wheat crop well above recent averages, figures from the Growers' Cooperative show, after a dry, warm finish to the summer rescued fields that were waterlogged at sowing.

Hannah Okoye24 Oct

Business

Tea gardens: green terraces on the hillsides

From Sri Lanka to Vietnam, Rwanda to Japan, the rhythmic green patterns of tea plantations.

Mateo Silva24 Oct

Heatwaves are no longer exceptions. They are a season

Adapting to longer, harsher hot spells has to move from cities' emergency plans into the way they are built and run every day.

Jonas Lindqvist24 Oct

Weekend escape: the lakes of the Greyling Hills, a short bus ride from the city

Clear water, rocky slopes and hardly a car park in sight. The lakes of the Greyling Hills are under ninety minutes from Wrenhaven by bus, and they are at their most peaceful once the summer visitors have gone.

Freya Collins24 Oct

Pick-your-own pumpkin farm draws families to the Asher Valley in its busiest October yet

A farm that once grew only cereals now plants 14 varieties of pumpkin and squash, and turns its fields over to visitors for four weeks every autumn.

Daniel Osei24 Oct

Technology

Robots for rent: small bakeries and food makers lease automation by the month

A Wrenhaven firm is renting out robot arms to small food producers on monthly contracts, letting bakeries and kitchens automate heavy, repetitive jobs without paying tens of thousands of euros upfront.

Aisha Rahman24 Oct

Volunteer crews race to repair 900 km of Alpine hiking trails before snow

Hundreds of volunteers have spent the season rebuilding storm-damaged footpaths across the Alps, clearing rockfall and replacing waymarks before winter closes the high routes.

Amara Nwosu24 Oct

Health

Walking every day matters more than walking fast, local study suggests

A year-long study of more than 900 adults found that those who walked most days, even at a gentle pace, reported better fitness and sleep than those who walked briskly but irregularly.

Ruth Abernathy24 Oct

Business

Pop-up shops push Wrenhaven high-street vacancy rate to a six-year low

A scheme offering empty units to start-up traders on short, cheap leases has filled 37 shopfronts, and a third of the tenants have now signed longer contracts.

Callum Reid24 Oct

Transport

Millbrook footbridge over the River Asher reopens after flood repairs

The 80-year-old crossing, closed since floodwater damaged its foundations last winter, is back in use with stronger piers and a wider deck.

Grace Mwangi24 Oct

Ancient theatres: centuries on the stone steps

The seating, stages and surroundings of theatres from the Greek and Roman world.

Diego Fernández24 Oct

Health

Walk-in mental health centre opens in Harbourside with evening sessions

The Harbour Room offers free, confidential support without an appointment or referral, and stays open until 10pm on weekdays.

Jamal Carter24 Oct

Environment

Blustery showers for the coast and brighter spells inland as gale hits ferries

Forecasters expect a lively weekend, with squally showers and gusts of up to 65 mph on exposed parts of the coast, while the Asher Valley and Greyling Hills should see longer dry spells.

Liam Brennan24 Oct

Coral gardeners regrow 12 hectares of reef off a Pacific atoll

Divers from the Tavua Reef Institute have planted more than 90,000 coral fragments over six years, and fish numbers on the restored sections are approaching those of healthy reefs nearby.

Chloé Martin24 Oct